PERTH, Australia – A Chinese ship involved in the hunt for the missing Malaysian jetliner reported hearing a “pulse signal” Saturday in southern Indian Ocean waters with the same frequency emitted by the plane’s data recorders, as Malaysia vowed not to give up the search for the aircraft.
The Australian government agency coordinating the search for the missing plane said early today the electronic pulse signals reportedly detected by the Chinese ship are consistent with those of an aircraft black box. But retired Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, the head of the search coordination agency, said they “cannot verify any connection” at this stage between the electronic signals and the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.
After weeks of fruitless looking, officials face the daunting prospect sound-emitting beacons in the flight and voice recorders will soon fall silent as their batteries die after sounding electronic “pings” for a month.
A Chinese ship part of the search effort detected a “pulse signal” in southern Indian Ocean waters, China’s official Xinhua News Agency reported. Xinhua, however, said it had not yet been determined whether the signal was related to the missing plane, citing the China Maritime Search and Rescue Center.
Xinhua said a black box detector deployed by the ship, Haixun 01, picked up a signal at 37.5 kilohertz, the same frequency emitted by flight data recorders.
Malaysia’s civil aviation chief, Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, confirmed the frequency emitted by Flight 370’s black boxes were 37.5 kilohertz and said authorities were verifying the report.
Earlier Saturday, Xinhua reported a Chinese military aircraft searching for the missing aircraft spotted “white floating objects” not far from where the electronic signals were detected.
There are many clicks, buzzes and other sounds in the ocean from animals, but the 37.5 kilohertz pulse was selected for underwater locator beacons on black boxes because there is nothing else in the sea naturally making that sound, said William Waldock, an expert on search and rescue who teaches accident investigation at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Arizona.
Honeywell Aerospace, which made the boxes in the missing Malaysia Airlines plane, said the Underwater Acoustic Beacons on both the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder operate at a frequency of 37.5 kilohertz plus or minus 1 kilohertz.
Waldock cautioned that “it’s possible it could be an aberrant signal” from a nuclear submarine if there was one in the vicinity.
If the sounds can be verified, it would reduce the search area to about 4 square miles, Waldock said. Unmanned robot subs with sidescan sonar would then be sent into the water to try to locate the wreckage, he said.
Hishammuddin, the Malaysian defense minister, told reporters in Kuala Lumpur the cost of mounting the search was immaterial compared to providing solace for the families of those on board by establishing what happened.
“I can only speak for Malaysia, and Malaysia will not stop looking for MH370,” Hishammuddin said.
He said an independent investigator would be appointed to lead a team that will try to determine what happened to Flight 370. The team will include three groups: One will look at airworthiness, including maintenance, structures and systems; another will examine operations, such as flight recorders and meteorology; and a third will consider medical and human factors.
The investigation team will include officials and experts from several nations, including Australia – which as the nearest country to the search zone is currently heading the hunt – China, the United States, Britain and France, Hishammuddin said.
Beacons in the black boxes emit “pings” so they can be more easily found, but the batteries last for only about a month.
Officials have said the hunt for the wreckage is among the hardest ever undertaken, and will get much harder still if the beacons fall silent before they are found.
“Where we’re at right now, four weeks since this plane disappeared, we’re much, much closer,” said aviation expert Geoffrey Thomas, editor-in-chief of AirlineRatings.com. “But frustratingly, we’re still miles away from finding it. We need to find some piece of debris on the water; we need to pick up the ping.”
If it doesn’t happen, the only hope for finding the plane may be a full survey of the Indian Ocean floor, an operation that would take years and an enormous international operation.
Hishammuddin said there were no new satellite images or data that can provide new leads for searchers. The focus now is fully on the ocean search, he said.
Because the U.S. Navy’s pinger locator can pick up signals to a depth of 20,000 feet, it should be able to hear the plane’s data recorders even if they are in the deepest part of the search zone – about 19,000 feet. But that’s only if the locator gets within range of the black boxes – a tough task, given the size of the search area and the fact that the pinger locator must be dragged slowly through the water at just 1 to 6 mph.
The overall search area is a 84,000-square-mile zone in the southern Indian Ocean, about 1,100 miles northwest of the western Australian city of Perth.
