Officials searching for the Malaysia Airlines Flight that went missing over the weekend on its way to Beijing are no closer to a solid lead, but a huge debate over how long the aircraft flew after losing contact may further hinder search efforts.
U.S. aviation investigators and national security officials believe the Boeing 777 flew for a total of five hours after losing contact with Malaysian control. They based that theory on data automatically downloaded and sent to the ground from its Rolls-Royce Trent engines as part of a standard monitoring program.
But Malaysian authorities aren’t convinced, saying there is no solid evidence that a jetliner missing for almost six days flew for hours after losing contact with air traffic controllers and continued to transmit technical data.
“Those reports are inaccurate,” Malaysian Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein told a news conference. “As far as both Rolls-Royce and Boeing are concerned, those reports are inaccurate. The last (data) transmission from the aircraft was at 01:07 a.m.(local time) which indicated that everything was normal.”
According to Reuters, Boeing and Rolls-Royce have yet to comment.
The last sighting of Flight MH370 was on civilian radar screens that came as the plane flew northeast across the mouth of the Gulf of Thailand. The aircraft was carrying 239 people.
Since Saturday, there has been no trace of the plane or sign of wreckage. But on Wednesday, satellite images published by the Chinese government suggested that the wreckage may have been found.
On Thursday, that lead was shot down.
Malaysia’s civil aviation chief, Datuk Azharuddin Abdul Rahman says planes searched the location Thursday.
“There is nothing. We went there, there is nothing,” he told the Associated Press.
Watch the video above for more information on the possible wreckage and theories surrounding the baffling disappearance.
SOURCE: Reuters | VIDEO SOURCE: News, Inc.
