MH370 Update: Families Wary Of Another 'Disappointment' In Renewed Search In October
Investigators are still trying to solve the mystery behind the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 six months after it was declared "lost" on March 8. According to reports, aviation investigators are considering the 1,000 possible flight patterns the aircraft may have taken before it reportedly crashed in the southern part of the Indian Ocean.
Australian Transport Safety Bureau chief commissioner Martin Dolan said his team of experts faces an "intimidating" challenge as it finalises preparations for an offshore search operation for one year. Reports said the entire recovery effort may cost as much as $47 million.
A Metro report said the wife of MH370 pilot Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah still seeks for "closure" six months after her husband and the plane he was flying disappeared. Faizah Khanum fears the new search operations may be another failure like the previous efforts. She said she was bracing herself for another disappointment after learning of the new search scheduled for October.
Families of the passengers and crew aboard Flight MH370 have followed any lead relating to the plane's disappearance. Like the search crews who came up empty-handed, relatives and friends who were active in looking out for possible leads also did not find anything to give them hope. According to reports, the renewed search in October may just turn out to be another "disappointment."
Meanwhile, officials have previously revealed they were certain that MH370 had crashed in a remote area of the ocean with an expanse of 618,000 square miles. In a report by the Telegraph, Dolan said he would like to be confident in saying the MH370 wreckage can be found but the task is "unprecedented."
The ATSB commissioner said he doesn't want to keep the hopes up of families whose loved ones were lost in the plane. Although he did not want to encourage hope, he also did not want them to completely give up. He said investigators have a "reasonable prospect" but there was no guarantee of finding anything.
On March 8, Flight MH370 disappeared while on its way to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur. About 227 passengers and crew were believed to be lost along with the Boeing 777 aircraft.
Days after its reported disappearance, a massive search led by Australia and Malaysia was conducted which covered the Bay of Bengal, Gulf of Thailand and the Indian Ocean. The multi-national search crew did not find any trace of MH370 including its black box.
Several leads have surfaced surrounding the investigation, but authorities said they turned out to be false. An underwater search was suspended in May so Australian and Chinese vessels can create a map to explore the remote waters of the Indian Ocean.
On Sept. 5, Australian authorities found "hard objects" or parts of the ocean that seem to be harder than the surrounding rock. Officials were quick to dismiss them as not "man-made." An undersea mapping of the ocean floor was conducted to determine what lies in its unexplored depths. The search area is far from the Western Australian coast. The undersea mapping will help aid search crews as they prepare to deploy underwater vehicles and scanners to find the MH370 wreckage.