MH370: "We will continue searching"

The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) P3 Orion landed in Perth at 7.30pm Eastern Australian time (4.30pm Malaysian time).

Its pilot, Lieutenant Russell Adams said that the weather at the location was good with a visibility of around 10 kilometers.

His team however failed to detect any objects.

“We have hope and if the weather continues to be like this, we hope we will be able to find something soon,” he said in an interview with Perth Now.

Three more RAAF aircrafts- two Orion and a Bombardier Global Express- is still at the location located approximately 2,300 kilometres from the Australian coast to help unlock the mystery of the missing MH370 plane that disappeared two weeks ago.

One more aircraft will be deployed to join the mission.

Acting Australian Prime Minister, Warren Truss late Friday said that two aircrafts from China will arrive in Perth on Saturday, while two other aircrafts from Japan will join in the operation on Sunday.

Truss, who will be visiting the RAAF base in Pearce near Perth on Saturday- where the search is being coordinated- said that efforts will be extended by the end of the week.

He also reminded people that the object that the satellite image was taken last Sunday, and there is a possibility that the object has moved or has sunk.

“This is the only lead in the world right now — and there is a real prospect the aircraft was in this area, so we must take this search seriously," said Truss.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) had meanwhile reported of good weather condition and visibility. b

“Tomorrow's plan (Saturday) is that we will continue the same operations,” said General Manager of AMSA’s Emergency Response Division John Young

“We will move the search according to where the water has moved overnight,” he explained.

AMSA will also be looking to see if they can get more satellite imagery which would provide them with new or refined information.

“We remain focused on finding people alive, and that’s tomorrow’s game,” John said.

One of the advantages of flying the Orion is that it can fly at a low altitude of 60 meters from the sea.

The aircraft has 13 crew members,a state-of-the-art radar system and three cameras- one camera is an infrared camera that will be able to detect anything on the ocean’s surface.

“We will find it — I’m sure about that piece of it. The only reason we wouldn’t find it was that it has sunk,’’ said Mike Yardley, an Air Commodore with New Zealand’s air force.

“I’ve been on these missions before when it’s taken a few days to come across it."

The area of the Indian Ocean is so remote that will take up to four hours for the Orion aircraft to fly there and four hours back, which only leaves them two hours to search.

The satellite image that was revealed on Thursday gave new hope in finding the missing MAS aircraft and once again has shaken up the emotions of the family members of the 239 people onboard the aircraft.