Mystery of missing MH370 plane may be solved after sensor picks up vital sound
The mystery surrounding the infamous MH370 plane may finally have been solved following some new, and potentially vital, findings.
It's been over 10 years since one of the most famous aviation mysteries in world history occurred.
On 8 March 2014, Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 was planning to make the journey from the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur to the Chinese capital of Beijing, but instead mysteriously veered off course and disappeared with no explanation.
Despite some advancements in the investigation, a clear explanation of the flight's disappearance is still missing, despite the ongoing efforts from teams around the world.
Advert
There were 227 passengers and 12 crew members onboard, all of whom have been presumed dead following the tragic incident.
It is well reported that the aircraft sent no distress calls, as it was later found that the Boeing 777 veered completely off its flight path, flying on an unknown path for another seven hours.
People still theorise about what may have happened on that fateful March day in 2014, with many believing that the answer lies on the plane's black box flight recorders, which are still missing.
However, investigators now believe that an underwater pressure monitor may have aided in the search for the doomed aircraft.
The Malaysian government stated earlier this year that the flight 'ended in the Southern Indian Ocean', despite the fact that it has never been found.
Researchers at Cardiff University have gone through over 100 hours of underwater audio from historical aircraft accidents and a submarine disappearance, and have stumbled across something that could change everything in the investigation.
They have pinpointed an underwater signal that may have been caused by the impact of the Boeing plane hitting the waves upon landing.
Dr. Usama Kadri, a mathematician and engineer, has explained that a network of hydrophones that have been used to monitor pressure changes in the ocean as part of a nuclear explosion detection system could be the way to uncover the MH370 mystery.
Together with his team, he analysed the data from the time that the aircraft was said to have vanished over the Southern Indian Ocean, and found one unidentified event in an area known as the Seventh Arc, that was picked up at the Leeuiwn station.
"A 200-tonne aircraft crashing at a speed of 200 metres per second would release the kinetic energy equivalent to a small earthquake. It would be large enough to be recorded by hydrophones thousands of kilometres away," Dr. Kadri wrote in The Conversation.
He continued: "Given the sensitivity of the hydrophones, it’s highly unlikely that a large aircraft impacting the ocean surface wouldn’t leave a detectable pressure signature, particularly on nearby hydrophones.
"But unfavourable ocean conditions could potentially dampen or obscure such a signal."
He said that the search as a whole would need to be looked at again to determine if these signals were directly related to the missing flight MH370.
Researchers have suggested a number of controlled underwater explosions to see if they can get a more exact location of the plane's wreckage.
Topics: MH370, Science, Technology, World News
Joshua Nair