image: GlobalNews
As the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH 370 continues, the International Civil Aviation Organization said it will convene a special meeting next month to discuss global tracking of airline flights. Government officials and industry experts from around the world will meet May 12-13 in Montreal to explore the specific aircraft and satellite-based capabilities needed to create a global system, ICAO said. The agency also is researching new means to expedite the location of accident sites, including deployable flight recorders and the triggered transmission of flight data, and also is reviewing the requirements for the transport of lithium batteries. Also, on Tuesday, an Australian company told CBS it may have mapped the wreckage of an airliner off the coast of Bangladesh while surveying for minerals.
The company, GeoResonance, said a review showed the anomalies were not present on March 5, but were present in data from March 10.MH370, with 239 people on board, has been missing since March 8. An unnamed U.S. official told CBS he was “very skeptical” of the find, since searchers have strong data, including satellite pings, that point to a likely search area hundreds of miles farther south.
In Malaysia, the investigation into the missing flight is ongoing, and on Monday, the government for the first time played the audio of the cockpit ATC exchanges, at a meeting to update the families of the missing. The Malaysian prime minister told CNN last week that an official report on the investigation has been sent to ICAO and would be released to the public soon. Australia said this week it has suspended the aerial search for debris, on the theory that any floating wreckage would have sunk by now. The Australians will expand their underwater search in the coming weeks as more private contractors are brought in.
