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Search for Missing Plane Suspended for Bad Weather F.B.I. Finds Few Clues on Malaysia Air Pilot’s Flight Simulator
(about 3 hours later)
PERTH, Australia — The search for the missing Malaysian airliner was suspended on Thursday, the second time this week that severe weather in the southern Indian Ocean had made flying to the possible wreckage zone too risky for search crews. WASHINGTON — The flight simulator and hard drives that the pilots of Flight 370 had at their homes appear 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.
Malaysian authorities seized the devices early in their investigation 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 in the days before the plane disappeared; the F.B.I. has extensive expertise in recovering deleted computer files.
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 continuing to focus on the pilot’s role in the plane’s disappearance on March 8, no concrete evidence has come to light to indicate that they sabotaged the flight.
Nor has any physical trace of the plane been recovered from the Indian Ocean southwest of Australia, where officials have concluded that the flight must have ended in a crash. Growing numbers of floating objects have been spotted in satellite photos of the area in recent days, but search planes were unable to hunt for them on Thursday because of bad weather, the second time this week that storms have forced a suspension of the search effort.
James B. Comey, the F.B.I. director, testified before the House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday that the bureau was close to completing its analysis of the pilots’ simulator and hard drives. “I have teams working really around the clock to exploit that,” Mr. Comey said. “I don’t want to say more about that in an open setting, but I expect it to be done fairly shortly. Within a day or two we will finish that work.”
One former senior law enforcement official briefed on the investigation cautioned that although the F.B.I. had found little on the pilots’ hard drives and simulator, there could be information on them that will be helpful to the Malaysians as they continue to investigate.
“Something on the drive which does not seem important today could be, when viewed with additional data obtained from the background of the individual, his other activity, interviews and data from the flight recorded,” the former official said. “Then, something that seemed like nothing may be something.”
The official and the two people briefed on the investigation spoke on the condition of anonymity because they did not want to jeopardize their access to sensitive information.
Officials leading the search for wreckage continue to hope that one of the floating objects spotted by satellites will turn out to be part of the plane, allowing then to considerably narrow the search zone. But little progress could be made on Thursday because storms made flying to the area too risky for search crews.
Lt. Cmdr. Adam Schantz, the head of an American team flying a Navy surveillance plane, said the search zone was afflicted by “severe turbulence, severe icing and basically zero visibility.”Lt. Cmdr. Adam Schantz, the head of an American team flying a Navy surveillance plane, said the search zone was afflicted by “severe turbulence, severe icing and basically zero visibility.”
“Anyone who is out there is coming home,” he said at the airport in Perth. “And all additional sorties are canceled.” “Anyone who is out there is coming home,” he said at the airport in Perth where search planes from several nations have been operating. “And all additional sorties are canceled.”
There were hopes that search flights on Thursday would scour the area where European satellite images made public Wednesday showed 122 floating objects. If the objects were confirmed as wreckage from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, the search could have been considerably narrowed. The latest satellite sightings came from a Thai government agency, which said on Thursday that one of its satellites detected what appeared to be a relatively compact field of floating debris near the search zone. The images were taken on Monday, one day after a European satellite photographed 122 floating objects.
A Thai government agency said Thursday that it, too, had spotted from one of its satellites what appeared to be a relatively compact field of debris near the search zone. The images were taken on Monday, one day after the European satellite pictures. The head of the Thai agency, the Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency, told reporters in Bangkok that his country’s images showed around 300 objects spread over an area of about 170 square miles, or 450 square kilometers. The agency said it could not describe the objects in any detail because the images were of a relatively low resolution.
The head of the Thai agency, the Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency, told reporters in Bangkok that the images showed around 300 objects over an area of about 170 square miles, or 450 square kilometers. The agency said it was confident that the images showed floating objects but cautioned that it could not describe them in detail because the images were of a relatively low resolution. Anond Snidvongs, the agency’s executive director, said the objects seen by the Thai satellite were 120 miles, or 200 kilometers, southwest of the European satellite sighting.
Anond Snidvongs, the agency’s executive director, said the objects seen by the Thai satellite were 120 miles, or 200 kilometers, southwest of the objects in the European satellite images. Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 took off from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing with 239 people aboard. It stopped communicating with ground controllers about 40 minutes later and veered radically off course for unknown reasons. Radar traces and satellite signals indicated that it flew west into the Indian Ocean and then south.
After two and a half weeks of searches, there have been multiple sightings of possible debris, but no wreckage has been retrieved. Flight 370 took off from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing on March 8 and veered southward into the Indian Ocean for unknown reasons.
The probable area of impact of the aircraft, calculated from signals emitted by the plane before it went down, is more than 620,000 square miles, or roughly three times the size of mainland France. Search aircraft have been able to search only roughly 5 percent of that area each day.The probable area of impact of the aircraft, calculated from signals emitted by the plane before it went down, is more than 620,000 square miles, or roughly three times the size of mainland France. Search aircraft have been able to search only roughly 5 percent of that area each day.
Six military and five civilian aircraft had been due to search in the area Thursday, according to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority. Five ships, including four Chinese vessels, are also in the vicinity, but it seems unlikely they would be able to search on Thursday because of the poor conditions. The search area is in latitudes known as the “roaring forties,” with fierce winds and heavy seas.
Commander Schantz said clouds were down to the surface of the water and visibility was so bad that aircraft crews would have trouble seeing their wingtips. Roger Badham, a meteorologist based near Sydney, said that there might be a break in the weather on Friday, but that more rain was forecast for Sunday, with low clouds likely to again reduce visibility from aircraft. But the weather in the search zone is highly variable and difficult to forecast accurately, not least because it is so far from the nearest climate monitoring stations, in Australia and Antarctica, according to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology.
The search area is known as the “roaring forties” — a reference to the latitude and notoriously fierce weather conditions. Mr. Badham and other experts say searching will become more difficult challenging as the southern hemisphere’s winter approaches.
Roger Badham, a meteorologist based near Sydney, said that there might be a break in the weather on Friday but that more rain was forecast for Sunday, with low clouds likely to again reduce visibility from aircraft. But the weather in the search zone is unpredictable and difficult to forecast, especially because the nearest climate monitoring stations are on the Australian mainland and in Antarctica, according to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology. “The storms build more frequently and with greater intensity in the winter,” Mr. Badham said. “It is not always blowing like hell, but you can get some doozy fronts coming through.”
Mr. Badham and other experts say search efforts will be increasingly challenging as winter approaches.
“The storms build more frequently and with greater intensity in the winter,” Mr. Badham said. “It is not always blowing like hell but you can get some doozy fronts coming through.”
Will Oxley, a professional sailor who has twice sailed through the search area, called it “one of the very rough parts of the world.”Will Oxley, a professional sailor who has twice sailed through the search area, called it “one of the very rough parts of the world.”
“It can be a pretty wild place,” he said. “Historically, in around-the-world yacht races, more accidents have happened in the southern Indian Ocean than elsewhere.”“It can be a pretty wild place,” he said. “Historically, in around-the-world yacht races, more accidents have happened in the southern Indian Ocean than elsewhere.”
Shorter days could also hamper the search effort. Mr. Oxley said on Dec. 31, the search area gets around 15.5 hours of daylight. But by the end of June there would be just 9 hours of daylight.