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| Search for Missing Jet Is Moved Nearly 700 Miles, Based on Radar Analysis | Search for Missing Jet Is Moved Nearly 700 Miles, Based on Radar Analysis |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Australia announced on Friday that it had moved the search area for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 nearly 700 miles to the northeast, the latest in a long series of changes by the authorities on where they think the plane might have disappeared. | |
| The authority said it was acting after further analysis of radar data from when the plane, which was supposed to be flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, instead turned over the South China Sea and flew back over Peninsular Malaysia. The analysis showed that the aircraft was moving faster than previously estimated and so would have used more fuel. | The authority said it was acting after further analysis of radar data from when the plane, which was supposed to be flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, instead turned over the South China Sea and flew back over Peninsular Malaysia. The analysis showed that the aircraft was moving faster than previously estimated and so would have used more fuel. |
| That in turn would mean that the aircraft could have run out of fuel sooner as it flew out over the southern Indian Ocean, according to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority. | That in turn would mean that the aircraft could have run out of fuel sooner as it flew out over the southern Indian Ocean, according to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority. |
| “This is a credible new lead and will be thoroughly investigated today,” Prime Minister Tony Abbott of Australia said in a statement on Friday morning, adding that 10 aircraft, six vessels and various satellites would focus on the new search area. | “This is a credible new lead and will be thoroughly investigated today,” Prime Minister Tony Abbott of Australia said in a statement on Friday morning, adding that 10 aircraft, six vessels and various satellites would focus on the new search area. |
| The revision of the search area, based on further analysis by an international team of experts working with Malaysian officials, means that Australia is redirecting the search far from the floating objects seen in the previous search area in satellite images released by Australia, China and the European satellite launch company Airbus Defense and Space. | The revision of the search area, based on further analysis by an international team of experts working with Malaysian officials, means that Australia is redirecting the search far from the floating objects seen in the previous search area in satellite images released by Australia, China and the European satellite launch company Airbus Defense and Space. |
| Those objects were in or very near the previous search area, as satellite operators had trained their cameras there. | |
| At 123,000 square miles, or 319,000 square kilometers, the new area is about the size of New Mexico and is only one-fifth of the size of the previous search area. John Young, the director general of the Maritime Safety Authority, said at a news conference near Canberra on Friday that the ocean is 2,000 to 4,000 meters deep in the new search area, or 6,500 to 13,000 feet, making it shallower in some places than the previous search area. | At 123,000 square miles, or 319,000 square kilometers, the new area is about the size of New Mexico and is only one-fifth of the size of the previous search area. John Young, the director general of the Maritime Safety Authority, said at a news conference near Canberra on Friday that the ocean is 2,000 to 4,000 meters deep in the new search area, or 6,500 to 13,000 feet, making it shallower in some places than the previous search area. |
| Mr. Young also said at the news conference that the weather in the new search area should be considerably better than that of the zone previously searched. | Mr. Young also said at the news conference that the weather in the new search area should be considerably better than that of the zone previously searched. |
| The new zone is 1,150 miles west-southwest of Perth, Australia, closer to Perth than the previous zone, shortening the flight for surveillance aircraft by up to an hour in each direction and allowing aircrews to spend more time actually looking for debris from Flight 370. | The new zone is 1,150 miles west-southwest of Perth, Australia, closer to Perth than the previous zone, shortening the flight for surveillance aircraft by up to an hour in each direction and allowing aircrews to spend more time actually looking for debris from Flight 370. |
| “It is a different ballpark,” said Erik van Sebille, an oceanographer of New South Wales University, of the new search area. “Where they are searching now is more like a subtropical ocean. It is not nearly as bad as the southern Indian Ocean, which should make the search easier.” | “It is a different ballpark,” said Erik van Sebille, an oceanographer of New South Wales University, of the new search area. “Where they are searching now is more like a subtropical ocean. It is not nearly as bad as the southern Indian Ocean, which should make the search easier.” |
| “The water in this area is more like the oceans around the Bahamas,” Dr. van Sebille added. But he also warned that the seabed in the area is marked by a steep ridge and that prevailing currents drag in more debris from other parts of the ocean. | “The water in this area is more like the oceans around the Bahamas,” Dr. van Sebille added. But he also warned that the seabed in the area is marked by a steep ridge and that prevailing currents drag in more debris from other parts of the ocean. |
| “It may be harder to spot from the air the debris related to the plane because there is more garbage floating in this area,” he said. | “It may be harder to spot from the air the debris related to the plane because there is more garbage floating in this area,” he said. |
| The new zone also creates a further challenge in finding the data recorders from the missing Boeing 777-200, which are believed to have sunk to the ocean floor wherever the aircraft first hit the surface of the sea. Aircraft and ships have dropped buoys and tracked them for the past week in the previous search area in an attempt to document sea currents and figure out how far floating debris might have drifted from the original point of impact. | The new zone also creates a further challenge in finding the data recorders from the missing Boeing 777-200, which are believed to have sunk to the ocean floor wherever the aircraft first hit the surface of the sea. Aircraft and ships have dropped buoys and tracked them for the past week in the previous search area in an attempt to document sea currents and figure out how far floating debris might have drifted from the original point of impact. |
| The new search area is farther north, in an area where currents tend to be less strong, but also may not have been tracked in as much detail in the past week. The currents to the northeast of the search area are more likely to move north or east, possibly toward Australia, oceanographers said earlier this week. | The new search area is farther north, in an area where currents tend to be less strong, but also may not have been tracked in as much detail in the past week. The currents to the northeast of the search area are more likely to move north or east, possibly toward Australia, oceanographers said earlier this week. |
| Asked whether the search over the past week had been a waste of time, Mr. Young replied that big changes like this were not unusual in searches. “This actually happens to us all the time, that new information that is out of sequence with the operation at the time,” he added. | Asked whether the search over the past week had been a waste of time, Mr. Young replied that big changes like this were not unusual in searches. “This actually happens to us all the time, that new information that is out of sequence with the operation at the time,” he added. |
| Martin Dolan, the chief commissioner of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, cautioned at the same news conference that the search area was still large, and that further analyses could yet result in another change in the search area. | Martin Dolan, the chief commissioner of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, cautioned at the same news conference that the search area was still large, and that further analyses could yet result in another change in the search area. |
| “This has a long way to go yet,” Mr. Dolan said. | “This has a long way to go yet,” Mr. Dolan said. |
| Mr. Young said that the new search area took into account the likely drifting of any floating debris in the nearly three weeks since the plane vanished. | Mr. Young said that the new search area took into account the likely drifting of any floating debris in the nearly three weeks since the plane vanished. |
| Those objects were in or very near the previous search area, as satellite operators had trained their cameras there. | Those objects were in or very near the previous search area, as satellite operators had trained their cameras there. |
| As the search in the Indian Ocean continued, the flight simulator and hard drives that the pilots of Flight 370 had at their homes appeared to be a dead end, yielding few clues that shed any light on whether they deliberately diverted the missing jet, according to two people briefed on the investigation. They spoke on the condition on anonymity because they did not want to jeopardize their access to secret information. | As the search in the Indian Ocean continued, the flight simulator and hard drives that the pilots of Flight 370 had at their homes appeared to be a dead end, yielding few clues that shed any light on whether they deliberately diverted the missing jet, according to two people briefed on the investigation. They spoke on the condition on anonymity because they did not want to jeopardize their access to secret information. |
| Malaysian authorities seized the devices early in their inquiry and, after initially keeping American officials at a distance, turned to the F.B.I. last week for help in analyzing them. The Malaysians were particularly interested in learning what it was that the captain of the flight apparently deleted from the simulator. | Malaysian authorities seized the devices early in their inquiry and, after initially keeping American officials at a distance, turned to the F.B.I. last week for help in analyzing them. The Malaysians were particularly interested in learning what it was that the captain of the flight apparently deleted from the simulator. |
| The F.B.I.'s spokesman, Michael Kortan, said the bureau would not discuss what it had found on the hard drives because the investigation was continuing. | |
| Though investigators are still focusing on the pilots’ role in the plane’s disappearance on March 8, no concrete evidence has come to light to indicate that they sabotaged the flight. | Though investigators are still focusing on the pilots’ role in the plane’s disappearance on March 8, no concrete evidence has come to light to indicate that they sabotaged the flight. |
| James B. Comey, the F.B.I. director, testified in Washington on Wednesday before the House Appropriations Committee that the bureau was close to completing its analysis of the pilots’ simulator and hard drives. | James B. Comey, the F.B.I. director, testified in Washington on Wednesday before the House Appropriations Committee that the bureau was close to completing its analysis of the pilots’ simulator and hard drives. |