On the brink of a breakthrough

Authorities say submarines searching for MH370 will only be deployed when another signal is detected.

Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Edward Potts-Szoke, a naval flight officer with Patrol Squadron (VP) 16, monitors his workstation on a P-8A Poseidon during the search for MH370 yesterday. Picture: 2nd Class Eric A. Pastor Source: Supplied

Naval air crewman, Operator 2nd Class Mike Burnett, a sailor attached to Patrol Squadron (VP) 16, participates in a "foreign object damage walkdown" outside the P-8A Poseidon before the search mission yesterday. Picture: 2nd Class Eric A. Pastor Source: Supplied

FOR these US crew members tasked with helping to solve the world's greatest airline mystery, there is a sense that a major breakthrough could come "any day now".

The day before, the Joint Agency Coordination Centre, which is managing the multinational hunt for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane, announced the Australian defence vessel Ocean Shield had detected two acoustic events in the far north of the search zone.

These sounds, authorities said, were consistent with transmissions from a flight data recorder and a cockpit voice recorder. And it came a day after Chinese state media announced one of its ships had detected pulse signals in the region.

■ HUNTING FOR CLUES IN THE DEEP

It was, in the words of Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, one of the most promising leads this international search effort has had so far. And the War Eagles, as they are also known, are aware of it.

Finding any debris at this point would help authorities narrow the vast search zone, which is now located, 1650km north-west of Perth.

"The reality is, it could be any day now," Lieutenant Clayton Hunt, the flight's 28-year-old pilot cautiously explained.

The belief of all those looking for MH370 is that at some point it will be found.

And this is what spurs this squadron on.

Most of those on board the P8 Poseidon on Monday were part of the crew which began scouring the Malacca Strait a week after the plane went missing.

Since then, most have completed around 14 missions – some 16 – but none of those searches have found that definitive piece of the puzzle.

So when US Navy air crewmen Dave Everly spotted something bright green floating just below the surface almost four hours into the nine-hour flight, he called out and the location was immediately marked, and the information relayed to the Australian coordination centre.

The P-8A Poseidon – a purpose built Boeing 737 with advanced radar and sonar equipment that is also capable of detecting and destroying a submarine out of the water – was flying just 700ft above the water. It then made a sharp turn and headed back over the stretch of water to get another look.

Sailors attached to Patrol Squadron (VP) 16 hard at work on board a P-8A Poseidon yesterday during the search for MH370. Picture: 2nd Class Eric A. Pastor Source: Supplied

It made this run four times and even climbed back up to 1500ft – still very low compared to the 30,000ft these aircraft usually travel – to allow the plane's camera to get a better look.

But even with this advanced equipment, electronic warfare operative Christopher Walsh, 23, explained it was more likely that the human eye will spot any MH370 debris rather than his radar equipment.

This is because debris, such as fabric, will float just below the surface of the water making it harder for radar to detect, he added.

Despite this, whenever someone spots something that isn't a white cap, the froth produced by waves crashing into each other, it is treated as a possible find.

"I don't know what it was, whether it was seaweed or fabric, but it didn't have a definite shape," air crewmen Everly said after the crew finished scouring around 20,000sq kms of the Indian Ocean yesterday. "I saw it three times."

Lieutenant Clayton Hunt, Patrol Squadron (VP) 16, (third from right) talking to his crew and media on board P-8A Poseidon before it left Perth International Airport yesterday. 2nd Class Eric A. Pastor Source: Supplied

And it wasn't the first time the air crewmen, who spent up to an hour at a time perched over a window staring out looking for any sign of MH370, has spotted debris since this long search began.

On previous missions he has sighted numerous items in the water including yellow rope, however none have turned out to be from the missing plane.

While disappointing, it doesn't deflate him or the rest of the crew.

According to Lt Hunt, not finding major debris was not a failure, it was still a success.

"Every square mile of water we did cover indicated it wasn't there, so we know it's not there, and can rule it out," he said.

"Today's mission was right on par with that, so that's a success."

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