Perth has become the centre of the largest air crash investigation in history with the apparent discovery of wreckage of MH370 some 2,700km south-west of Western Australia.
Investigators from Malaysia, Australia, the United States and Great Britain have arrived in Perth along with an armada of ships and more planes.
AirlineRatings understands that three Chinese and two Japanese aircraft are to join the search today. Two Australian commercial VIP aircraft will also joint the search with expert spotters on board. In addition to this, three Chinese warships are also en route to the area.
The weather forecast for today is fair however a storm front is expected to reach the area tomorrow which will no doubt hamper search efforts.
As well as air crash investigators the US FBI and other criminal agencies are expected to take part in the investigation – which will be the most difficult ever attempted.
The wreckage is located in the Great Southern Ocean where the ocean floor is up to 10,0000ft deep and the seas very rough.
These ingredients would make the recovery of the Boeing 777 almost impossible.
The Cockpit Voice Recorder and the Digital Flight Data Recorder will be recovered by a deep sea submersible probably from Us based Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
WHOI is the world’s most experienced oceanographic research group and found the black boxes from Air France Flight 447.
However the recovery of the wreckage would be conducted by deep sea salvage experts that may include the US Navy which would use the expertise and equipment used to recover crippled submarines.
But finding crash debris does not mean that searches will find the plane.
It took two years to find the actual fuselage of Air France 447 which crashed in June 2009.
And it has been two weeks since MH370 disappeared with ocean current taking debris hundreds of kilometres.
Below the surface at lower depths ocean currents often move in vastly different directions making locating the Boeing 777 even more challenging.
And the sea state will play havoc with recue attempts with swells often well over 30 metres in winter.
South Indian Ocean swells are already topping 17 mtrs and winter is only a couple of months away.
Have questions or want to share your thoughts?
