BALTIMORE, Maryland March 27, 2014 - A credible new lead has convinced searchers to move the target area north of where it had been, although the search is still concentrating on the southern part of the Indian Ocean. The break came when new data conerning the early part of the flight indicated it had used more fuel than originally thought. Therefore, the plane is believed to have run out of fuel somewhat earlier than originally thought. Thus, instead of concentrating on an area 1850 kilometers southwest of Perth, Australia, the multination search team is now concentrating on an area 1500 kilometers due west of Perth. Search planes are already in the new area, looking for a debris field depicted in images given the searchers by Thailand. The new photos show up to 300 closely placed debris pieces. Boats from the search team are moving north and are expected in the new target area soon.
The respected aviation blog "Plane Talking" said that new analysis of the early part of the flight showed that the plane was moving much faster than originally thought during the part of the flight immediately after it took the unscheduled turn west and flew over the Malaysian Peninsula and out over the Straits of Malacca. The faster speed means that fuel was consumed at a much faster rate. This, in turn, means the plane must have run out of fuel somewhat sooner than thought in earlier analysis.
Foul weather had forced the search team to cancel air patrols on Wednesday, but the search by air continued Thursday and is on again Friday. The Boeing 777 took off from Kuala Lumpur at 12:41 am on March 14. It was due to land in Beijing at 6:30 am the same day. But, approximately 40 minutes into the flight the crew made a final radio contact with air traffic controllers, then dropped off of their radar screens. Military radar tracked the jet as it took an unscheduled westward turn, off of the course it was on to Beijing.
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