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   US Official: 'Pings' Heard During MH370 Hunt Not Likely from Missing Plane

   by VOA News

   A U.S. Navy official said electronic signals detected last month during
   the search for the missing Malaysian jet most likely did not come from
   the plane's flight data recorder.

   Navy deputy director of ocean engineering Michael Dean told CNN
   authorities almost universally believe the so-called "pings" did not
   emanate from the plane's black box or cockpit voice recorders.

   Dean said the signals probably came from another man-made source, such
   as a nearby ship, or from within the electronics of the towed pinger
   locator that was searching for the signals.

   A Navy spokesman, Chris Johnson, dismissed Dean's remarks as
   "speculative and premature." In a statement, he said the U.S. and
   others continue to work to "more thoroughly understand the data."

   The Malaysia Airlines flight was carrying 239 people when it
   disappeared without a distress call on March 8 after departing Kuala
   Lumpur en route to Beijing.

   Using a series of transmissions between the plane and a communications
   satellite, Australian authorities determined the Boeing 777 crashed in
   the remote southern Indian Ocean southwest of Australia's coast.

   There, a U.S. Navy pinger locator being towed by an Australian ship
   detected a series of signals believed to come from the plane's black
   box. But an extensive search of the ocean floor by a miniature,
   unmanned submarine failed to produce any trace of the jet.

   Malaysian authorities, along with the British company Inmarsat, this
   week released the raw satellite data used to narrow the search. Many
   family members of those missing hope independent analysis of the data
   can provide more clues about the plane's location.

   Satellite data is not normally used to determine a plane's location,
   but investigators had little other choice because the plane's
   communications devices were either disabled or malfunctioned during the
   flight.

   Malaysian authorities believe someone with an in-depth knowledge of
   airplane systems intentionally diverted the jet, but an investigation
   of the pilots and passengers has not yielded any solid leads.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/us-official-pings-heard-during-mh370-
   hunt-not-likely-from-missing-plane/1924884.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/us-official-pings-heard-during-mh370-hunt-not-likely-from-missing-plane/1924884.html