3 ms·

Could someone explain why the obvious explanation that "maybe they sweeped the right spots of the ocean, but at the wrong time" seems to go almost entirely unco

Could someone explain why the obvious explanation that "maybe they sweeped the right spots of the ocean, but at the wrong time" seems to go almost entirely unconsidered? i.e., I was always imagining what if the plane was in motion at the time they were sweeping so that they missed it?

pjc50 8y ago
Sunk material tends to stay in the same place on the bottom. If it was floating we would expect it to wash up eventually.
- mehrdadn 8y ago
  How long does it take to sink to the bottom though? My memory is hazy on the timing, but I seem to recall they started searching immediately (?), and I was thinking "what if it's still moving...?" at the time. (Edit: The ocean depth was around 4.5km.)
  - mrguyorama 8y ago
    My gut feel is that it would take far less than a day to sink to the bottom, especially as planes are not very buoyant. Since they were searching in entirely the wrong areas until a little while after the incident, when they got better data, I think it's safe to assume the wreckage was settled by the time they searched its area
    - snowwrestler 8y ago
      Air France 447 (a very mysterious airplane disappearance prior to MH370) was found not far from its last known position in the Atlantic Ocean: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_France_Flight_447#2011_search_and_recovery https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_France_Flight_447#2011_sea... In fact it seems the key decision in finding that wreckage was to include areas that had already been searched in a new analysis on where the wreckage was likely to be: https://www.technologyreview.com/s/527506/how-statisticians-found-air-france-flight-447-two-years-after-it-crashed-into-atlantic/ https://www.technologyreview.com/s/527506/how-statisticians-...
      - cwkoss 8y ago
        It would be horribly unethical, but as it is hard to validate work, I wonder if there is much cheating in the undersea searching industry.

pjc50 8y ago

Sunk material tends to stay in the same place on the bottom. If it was floating we would expect it to wash up eventually.

mehrdadn 8y ago
How long does it take to sink to the bottom though? My memory is hazy on the timing, but I seem to recall they started searching immediately (?), and I was thinking "what if it's still moving...?" at the time. (Edit: The ocean depth was around 4.5km.)
- mrguyorama 8y ago
  My gut feel is that it would take far less than a day to sink to the bottom, especially as planes are not very buoyant. Since they were searching in entirely the wrong areas until a little while after the incident, when they got better data, I think it's safe to assume the wreckage was settled by the time they searched its area
  - snowwrestler 8y ago
    Air France 447 (a very mysterious airplane disappearance prior to MH370) was found not far from its last known position in the Atlantic Ocean: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_France_Flight_447#2011_search_and_recovery https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_France_Flight_447#2011_sea... In fact it seems the key decision in finding that wreckage was to include areas that had already been searched in a new analysis on where the wreckage was likely to be: https://www.technologyreview.com/s/527506/how-statisticians-found-air-france-flight-447-two-years-after-it-crashed-into-atlantic/ https://www.technologyreview.com/s/527506/how-statisticians-...
    - cwkoss 8y ago
      It would be horribly unethical, but as it is hard to validate work, I wonder if there is much cheating in the undersea searching industry.