Malaysian jet was on autopilot, search area moved

A new area has been approved for the search of the missing Malaysian jet after experts re-analyzed satellited data and concluded that the plane was, most likely, on auto-pilot when it hit the Indian Ocean and that inflicted a change in the plane’s trajectory.

Warren Truss, the Australian Deputy Prime Minister, explained that it is ‘highly, highly likely that the aircraft was on autopilot, otherwise it could not have followed the orderly path that has been identified through the satellite sightings.’

August will mark the beginning of this new phase in the search mission. Experts will cover an area of 23,000 square miles over the span of an entire year.

Truss said about the new search area that it ‘has never been comprehensively mapped’ but ‘it is the best available and most likely place where the aircraft is resting.’

Earlier this week, the Malaysian Airlines commercial chief, Hugh Dunleavy, talked about the night the plane went missing: 'People say, ‘Why didn’t you work quicker?' But you’re calling pilots, explaining the situation, waiting for them to send out pings, doing the same to the next plane, then the next, and it’s four in the morning, you don’t have 50 people in the office, only a couple. An hour goes by frighteningly quickly—you realize that the missing plane is now another 600 miles somewhere else.’

Dunleavy also expressed his opinion on whether the plane will ever be found: ‘I believe it’s somewhere in the south Indian Ocean. But when (a plane) hits the ocean, it’s like hitting concrete. The wreckage could be spread over a big area … I think it could take a really long time to find. We’re talking decades.’