Ocean Infinity presented a new MH370 underwater search proposal to Anthony Loke, the Malaysian Minister of Transport in Kuala Lumpur on 2nd May 2024. Anthony Loke said that based on discussions held on Thursday, the company had submitted a proposal paper along with evidence and information for examination by the relevant parties under his ministry.
Josh Broussard, the Chief Technology Officer, of Ocean Infinity led the team making the presentation, together with their Commercial Manager.
Pete Foley, the former ATSB search director, also attended the meeting in Malaysia. Pete has been campaigning for a new search for several years and is advising Ocean Infinity on the new search.
Prof. Simon Maskell, from Liverpool University, is a scientific advisor to Ocean Infinity and was also in attendance at the meeting. Simon leads a team investigating the possibility of using WSPR to detect and track aircraft. Simon plans to add the WSPR data to the particle filter developed by the Australian Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG) described in their book titled “Bayesian Methods in the Search for MH370” in order to refine the new MH370 search area.
The new search for MH370 is expected to start in November 2024. Anthony Loke said the whole process of examining the new proposal, including cabinet approval would take about three months. Two representatives of the Association for Families of the Passengers and Crew on board MH370 also attended the meeting. The Association welcomed the new proposal and thanked everyone involved.
Just to clarify, my post above was a reply to @ventus45, and I hadn’t seen @Richard’s subsequent post.
@All,
Armada 7808 has left Cape Town and is underway and back tracking eastwards to Mossel Bay, South Africa, where it is expected to arrive on 23rd January 2025 at 01:00 UTC.
@All,
Here is an update on the Armada fleet.
Armada 7801 has departed Great Yarmouth, UK and is underway to a survey site in the North Sea.
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/78p024ynaxiwbtan6fppk/Armada-7801-Vessel-Finder-22JAN2025-1947-UTC.png?rlkey=v47b0k7d8zuhhiu97dkaj1b8i&dl=0
Armada 7802 is in the port of Aberdeen, UK and is doing ROV trials.
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/y4e41r4m1z1lvkkgeg0va/Armada-7802-Vessel-Finder-22JAN2025-2032-UTC.png?rlkey=3ew069nss7t0gifyx78g5gb7j&dl=0
Armada 7803 is moored in Gdansk, Poland.
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/0znsweo9cy4zkptbjpvpa/Armada-7803-Vessel-Finder-22JAN2025-2029-UTC.png?rlkey=i2kkhvxpwvudz1kppqq4jad3s&dl=0
Armada 7804 is underway to the Cape Verde Islands.
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/l7t012tlafjew1qtjufxl/Armada-7804-Vessel-Finder-22JAN2025-1930-UTC.png?rlkey=1eisjim3nrptv4wy5zv6f05px&dl=0
Armada 7805 is moored in Farsund, Norway.
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/22pccimci4bguqojkfxvj/Armada-7805-Vessel-Finder-22JAN2025-2033-UTC.png?rlkey=gi51jsiljpvh8vj6v6bvedyde&dl=0
Armada 7806 is well into the Indian Ocean on a course for Mauritius.
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/8g1r4inhqugp9qcgmxozg/Armada-7806-Vessel-Finder-22JAN2025-1945-UTC.png?rlkey=b9r8mp2smbin4lehgja4u3ud3&dl=0
Armada 7807 is anchored off Balbao, Panama and waiting to go through the Panama Canal.
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/p3qe0ps6yq50zrlhtilgq/Armada-7807-Vessel-Finder-22JAN2025-2033-UTC.png?rlkey=jq76b5tvcuzc668o3lwz1seim&dl=0
Armada 7808 has now left Cape Town and is underway as of 22nd January 2025 at 20:28 UTC and back tracking eastwards to Mossel Bay, South Africa, where the reported ETA is 23rd January 2025 at 01:00 UTC, but the predicted ETA is 24th January 2025 at 01:20 UTC. There is still 234 nmi to run, which will take around 29 hours from 22nd January 2025 at 20:28 UTC.
If Armada 7808 wanted to go to Mossel Bay, it could have done so yesterday, as it passed right by. This does not make any obvious sense. There must have been a personnel or equipment reason to go to Cape Town. However Durban offers excellent port facilities and an international airport just as Cape Town, but would have been reached a lot sooner. Armada 7808 was close to Durban a week ago on 16th January 2025.
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ict76kobstup6lu03ooqv/Armada-7808-Vessel-Finder-22JAN2025-2028-UTC.png?rlkey=8ouluh6lxjh1lvmkiuuin0flg&dl=0
None are heading to the MH370 search area.
@All,
For the avoidance of doubt, the comments from @Duncan are not from Duncan Steel.
Some of you will remember Duncan Steel as the founder of the IG, who ran a website on MH370 for many years at:
https://www.duncansteel.com/archives/category/mh370
@All,
Armada 7806 is underway in the Indian Ocean as of 23rd January 2025 08:01 UTC at 9.0 knots and on a course of 246°T for Mauritius. It is expected to arrive in Mauritius in 11 days time on 3rd February 2025:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ccqgyid2sjqi2an984qkr/Armada-7806-Vessel-Finder-23JAN2025-0801-UTC.png?rlkey=kwlfmztfactg3irvn47204ou7&dl=0
Armada 7808 is underway off the coast of South Africa as of 23rd January 2025 08:45 UTC at 9.4 knots and on a course of 99.4°T for Mossel Bay. It is expected to arrive in Mossel Bay later today at 22:59 UTC:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/jbjjr2t389xqhjrfucbo1/Armada-7808-Vessel-Finder-23JAN2025-0845-UTC.png?rlkey=ayy8tk0onvzyh20qcmeta85oe&dl=0
The major news on MH370 in the main stream media (MSM) is, that there is no news!
A month ago the MSM were full of themselves about Loke’s announcement, that a new underwater search for MH370 had been agreed in principle with Ocean Infinity. Since then nothing.
@Richard. One thing I think worth raising about locating the sea-bottom wreckage is the implicit assumption that this would:
• satisfy NOK and
• cost the Malaysian government heaps aside from the reward via litigation and, particularly, compensation.
As to the former, many of the bereaved surely would also want to know what the cause was, at least. However, judging from precedents that might not prove clear cut.
Accident investigators do not always agree. One example is the investigation into the 1997 SilkAir Boeing 737 crash where one country’s concluded that “pilot suicide’ was the cause, another disagreeing that this had been proved. Evidently one interpreted its responsibility as establishing cause on ‘the balance of probabilities’, the other working instead to ‘beyond reasonable doubt’. In the MH370 case it seems possible that there will be no evidence that meets that latter yardstick.
As to the second dot point, in the SilkAir instance, a US court looking into litigation found the cause instead to be a faulty rudder component. This was because evidence in the accident investigations report was disallowed presumably because it was protected against such use.
Another instance was the investigation into a 1979 Air New Zealand DC10 crash into an unseen mountain in the Antarctic while under VFR, in good visibility and with an experienced flight crew. All 257 aboard were killed. Both voice and data recorders were recovered. New Zealand’s Chief Investigator of Air Accidents concluded that the cause was pilot error. Subsequently an Inquiry by a Royal Commissioner found to the contrary that airline error had led to the pilots had been misinformed. This has not been resolved though in its finding on a side issue, the highest NZ court at the time, the Law Lords of the Privy Council in London, found against the judge.
From my glancing at the documents the judge had the better case but overstated it, attributing malfeasance.
I can post the relevant URLs of this and the SilkAir accident should anyone like.
I have seen no mention of compensation or litigation though that was 1979.
There have been numerous other instances where the accident cause has not been established or litigation resulted. There is a good chance therefore that this would end up in a muddle.