The search for the Malaysian Airlines MH370 flight that disappeared a decade ago could successfully end within days thanks to new technology and a new “very small” search zone in which experts should focus their attention, according to investigators.
The disappearance of the 227 passengers and 12 crew members aboard the MH370 on March 8, 2014 remains shrouded in mystery.
But aerospace expert Jean-Luc Marchand and pilot Captain Patrick Blelly have raised new hopes the aircraft could now be found with a “five to 15 day” search effort by focusing on a specific area and adopting improved technology scanning the bottom of the ocean.
Retired Programme Manager on Air Traffic Management Mr Marchand told GB News: “What we point out as a zone, for our understanding and how it could have happened, is a very small zone.
“And so considering what Ocean Infinity declared a year ago, more than a year ago actually they have much increased their capacity to scan the bottom of the ocean.
“And that’s why we think it would take between let’s say five to 15 days to find the aircraft if the soil of the bottom of the ocean is relatively flat and that we don’t know exactly.”
Marine robotics company Ocean Infinity carried out a months-long search without success in 2018. After reviewing the data collected, in March 2022 the company said it was interested in resuming its search for the missing Boeing 777 in 2023 or 2024, pending approval by the Malaysian Government.
Mr Merchand added he believes the aircraft was piloted until the end and did not fall vertically.
He said: “We think it was piloted until the end, the very end with a gliding phase leading something around 100 nautical miles away from where it has been searched so far and a little bit more, let’s say outside of the Arc.”
The MH370 was an international passenger flight. It disappeared from the radar around two hours after leaving the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia.
The Boeing 777 never arrived at its planned destination, Beijing Capital International Airport, and the reason for its disappearance has not been determined.
Massive search operations involving several countries have been conducted in the southern Indian Ocean, but neither the plane nor its wreckage has ever been found.
Distraught families of the passengers have, over the past decade, called for new searches to be carried out.
Most recently, in December, relatives of Chinese passengers on the flight asked once again for the search to be resumed.
