Originally Posted by
Wickerman
Shanghai-based Xinmin Evening News cited its reporter on board the patrol ship as reporting that the ship’s crew had “basically confirmed” that the signal was from the missing Boeing 777-200.
http://www.news.com.au/travel/travel...-1226875724698
And yet...
The media office of the Joint Agency Coordination Centre said the could not say anything about the signal or whether it had come from MH370.
“We are unable to verify any such information at this point in time,” the office said.
The new search areas for today do not include the coordinates given by the Chinese, so if JACC cannot confirm the story, if not today, then when?
In 24 hours the pings may be weaker, less frequent, or gone for good...
No matter how unlikely this report may be, no clue should be ignored.
Just the same as any murder inquiry, every witness story is checked out.
They actually have some very precise positioning gear on these ships, like GPS, etc. But the topography can vary by as much as 2,500 meters, so acoustic properties of the FDR/CVR "pinger" can be very subject to distortion, absorption, etc.
They may have to do more searching with the Bluefin 21 and similar kit, but if this is the pinger they have narrowed the search are amazingly.
If JACC announced they were "fairly sure" it was MH370, they'd be figuratively crucified - the reaction would be significantly harsher than the Chinese satellite finds and other non-results.