MH370 search set back because 25 minutes of data from secret US military base has gone missing

An ocean acoustics recorder that may have picked up MH370’s crash into the sea missed 25 vital minutes of data which could help unravel the mystery of the doomed plane, researchers claim.

A network of underwater microphones called hydrophones, used by militaries to identify submarines and warships, operate in oceans around the world.

Two of them were positioned in the Indian Ocean when the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 jet vanished with 239 people aboard while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014. 

Researchers at Cardiff University have analysed the data that sound recorders (station HA01 and HA08) picked up on the night of the crash and suggested two new possible crash routes – one towards the west of Australia (route one) and one towards Madagascar (route two)

An acoustics recorder positioned to pick up MH370's impact with the Indian Ocean missed 25 vital minutes of data which may have unravelled the mystery of the doomed plane, researchers claim

An acoustics recorder positioned to pick up MH370’s impact with the Indian Ocean missed 25 vital minutes of data which may have unravelled the mystery of the doomed plane, researchers claim

One known as HA01 was off Cape Leeuwin on the Western Australia coast, while the second known as HA08 was at a US military base in Diego Garcia, just south of the equator in the heart of the Indian Ocean.

Researchers at Cardiff University have analysed the signals they picked up the day the plane went missing and suggested two new possible crash areas – one towards the west of Australia and one towards Madagascar.

According Usama Kadri – a lecturer in applied mathematics and engineering at Cardiff University – the recorder off Australia, which analyses waves generated by an impact, provided some reliable data.

But the information picked up by the device in the US base was distorted – and 25 minutes is missing.

‘[The signals] were distorted by noise which is believed to have been caused by a military exercise in that side of the ocean,’ he wrote in The Conversation this week.

‘Unfortunately, on top of the noisy recorded signals, 25 minutes of data from HA08 is missing.’

But despite the noise from military action and the missing data, Kadri said enough was taken from the recordings to identify two possible routes that the plane took before it crashed.

A map of the hydrophone signals recorded on March 7 and 8 2014. It shows two new possible routes in orange and two new crash locations

A map of the hydrophone signals recorded on March 7 and 8 2014. It shows two new possible routes in orange and two new crash locations

One of the possible crash sites is further north in the Indian Ocean than was initially believed, while a potential alternate flight course would have taken MH370 closer towards Africa.

Earlier this month, Malaysian authorities confirmed plane debris washed up on a beach in Madagascar was ‘most likely’ from the doomed plane.  

How does hydroacoustic technology work? 

Hydroacoustic technology allows sea craft like boats or submarines to monitor the distance between objects in the water, and goes by the well-known term Sound Navigation and Ranging (SONAR).

As a sound wave is emitted through the water it reflects off objects such as icebergs and shoals, so sea vessels can determine distance.

Hydroacoustic monitoring records the changes in the water that are brought about from the sound waves.

The technology focuses on one particular layer in the water, where sound travel is slower, but more efficient. 

Kadri said he recommended that all signals recorded by the devices between 11pm on March 7 and 4am on March 9 be analysed. 

He said his recommendations were sent to the MH370 Safety Investigation Team in Malaysia, Australian Transport Safety Bureau and other relevant authorities.

The idea of analysing acoustic waves to help solve the enduring mystery was first proposed by Kadri and his colleagues at Cardiff University in 2017. 

Since the initial proposal, scientists have gained a better understanding of hydroacoustic waves and have called for authorities to renew the investigation.  

Hydroacoustic technology allows sea craft like boats or submarines to monitor the distance between objects in the water, and goes by the well-known term Sound Navigation and Ranging (SONAR).

As a sound wave is emitted through the water it reflects off objects such as icebergs and shoals, so sea vessels can determine distance.

Hydroacoustic monitoring records the changes in the water that are brought about from the sound waves.

The technology focuses on one particular layer in the water, where sound travel is slower, but more efficient.  

Earlier this month, Malaysian authorities confirmed plane debris washed up on a beach in Madagascar was 'most likely' from the doomed plane. Pictured: A similar plane to the one that disappeared

Earlier this month, Malaysian authorities confirmed plane debris washed up on a beach in Madagascar was ‘most likely’ from the doomed plane. Pictured: A similar plane to the one that disappeared

Retired pilot Randy Ryan believes 'hijacked' MH370 should be centred on around the area of Madagascar

Retired pilot Randy Ryan believes ‘hijacked’ MH370 should be centred on around the area of Madagascar

On Sunday a retired pilot called for the search for missing flight MH370 to centre around Madagascar over fears it was hijacked.

Ex-US Air Force and United Airlines captain Randy Ryan believes the plane was bound in that direction before it crashed into the sea or was landed on dry land. 

A mammoth search effort ensued but all that has been found of the missing jet was bits of debris.

Mr Ryan said he thinks the transponder was deliberately shut down as there was ‘zero possibility’ it could have been switched off accidentally.

The former Boeing pilot told the Daily Star Online the manoeuvre allowed the supposed culprit to fly the plane off-radar, leaving air traffic controllers wondering what had happened. 

Mr Ryan said he thought the captain did everything normally during pre-flight before the plane was hijacked after take-off.

Rusli Khusmin, 42, a fisherman from Indonesia, shows his GPS navigator which he used to record the co-ordinates of the spot where he believes MH370 went down

Rusli Khusmin, 42, a fisherman from Indonesia, shows his GPS navigator which he used to record the co-ordinates of the spot where he believes MH370 went down

Malaysia president Dr Jacob George shows the co-ordinates of where the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 is believed to have crashed

Malaysia president Dr Jacob George shows the co-ordinates of where the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 is believed to have crashed

‘So far what little debris that has been found was all found on the westerly route and I am suggesting it was flown there,’ he said.

‘Yes, I know it sounds sinister and they did find a part of the wing that was damaged when, or if, it hit the water but remember where it was found (east of Madagascar).

‘Again along the route I believe it was flown, and not to the southwest of Australia where they spent so much time searching.

‘If anybody still has the money to search for the plane this is where I think they should search.’

Indonesian fisherman Rusli Khusmin, 42, recently claimed he and his crew members were eyewitnesses to the disaster and has handed over the co-coordinators to investigators to the spot where he said it crashed into the Sumatra sea.

He recorded the information on a GPS device and held up a map to show reporters earlier this month.

Mr Khusmin at a news conference in Subang Jaya, near Kuala Lumpur where MH370 took off, said he remembered seeing a damaged aircraft and thick black smoke.

Fishermen claim this is the location the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 ditched into  the Malacca Strait near Sumatra, Indonesia

Fishermen claim this is the location the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 ditched into  the Malacca Strait near Sumatra, Indonesia

‘I saw the plane moving from left to right like a broken kite,’ he said. ‘There was no noise, just black smoke as a result of fires before it crashed into the water.’

But he failed to explain why it had taken him almost five years to get in touch with the authorities with the information.

The Malaysian government halted the investigation after drawing a blank and are still at a loss as to what happened to the airplane. 

Various theories have abounded with conspiracists linking both Russian leader Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to its disappearance.

Recent debris discovered on the African island believed to be ‘likely’ from the missing jet.

Meanwhile, a flaperon understood to be from MH370 was found on Reunion Island back in 2015, around 425 miles east of Madagascar.  

Jacquita Gonzales, (right) the wife of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 steward Patrick Gomes, and Grace Subathirai Nathan (left), daughter of MH370 passenger Anne Daisy, show pieces of debris (believed to be from flight MH370 before handing over to Malaysia Transport Minister Anthony Loke in Putrajaya last November

Jacquita Gonzales, (right) the wife of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 steward Patrick Gomes, and Grace Subathirai Nathan (left), daughter of MH370 passenger Anne Daisy, show pieces of debris (believed to be from flight MH370 before handing over to Malaysia Transport Minister Anthony Loke in Putrajaya last November

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk