Today’s search and recovery operation in the Australian Search and Rescue Region for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 is scheduled to commence about 9 am AEDT this morning. The search activities will involve a total of 10 ships and 10 aircraft, Australian Maritime Safety Authority 8AMSA) said in a release.
These include HMAS Success and HMAS Toowoomba, seven Chinese ships and a merchant vessel. The ADV Ocean Shield is scheduled to depart from Perth today. It has now been fitted with a black box detector and an autonomous underwater vehicle
The aircraft include one Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) P3 Orion, a Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) P3 Orion, one Japanese P3 Orion, a Japan Coast Guard Gulfstream jet, a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force Ilyushin IL – 76, a Republic of Korea P3 Orion, a United States Navy P8 Poseidon, two Royal Malaysian Air Force C – 130 Hercules and one civil jet acting as a communications relay.
First to depart will be the Chinese Ilyushin IL – 76 aircraft at about 9am followed by the US Navy P8 Poseidon and RNZAF P3 Orion at 11am, while the Japan Coast Guard Gulfstream jet is due to depart about 2.30pm following by the Japanese P3 Orion at about 3pm.
Some parts of the search area will experience low cloud and rain throughout the day, AMSA said.
[mappress] Press Release, March 31, 2014, Image: Australian Navy