Boeing Rumored to Take Up MH370 Search

Aviation expert John Goglia, a safety consultant and former member of the National Transportation Safety Board, has said that Boeing will most likely take the lead in a privately-run search for the missing aircraft MH370.

Goglia was quoted in Popular Mechanics saying the search will “be smaller and more focused, but that’s probably better.” 

He cited the 1987 crash of South African Airways Flight 295, found in the southern Indian Ocean after years of searching. Parts of the plane including one of the plane’s data recorders were eventually salvaged from water depths of around 4,900 meters (16,000 feet).

Boeing is yet to comment on any plans relating to a potential new MH370 search.

The plane vanished during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014, with 239 people on board.

Investigators searching for the missing plane recommended in December that the search area be extended by 25,000 square kilometers (9,650 square miles). Australia - one of three search countries along with Malaysia and China - rejected the recommendation, citing a lack of "credible evidence" to extend the search.

The recommendation followed a report citing extensive new drift analysis work which concluded that the plane would almost certainly not be found in the current area. Instead it will likely be found in a much smaller area to the north-east.

Malaysia, Australia and China agreed in July that the $160 million search will be suspended once the current area has been searched unless new evidence emerges. Australian Transport Minister Darren Chester suggested that an extension of the search based on the latest analysis is unlikely, because the report does not give a specific location for the missing aircraft.

Meanwhile, the current search for MH370 is winding down. Fugro Equator is the only vessel currently engaged in the search. She continues to conduct underwater search operations using the autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) and has completed 10 AUV missions with an average duration of 23 hours since December 21.

Other privately funded expeditions have found the Titanic, the German battleship Bismarck and the Royal Navy’s HMS Hood.