Amee
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US Navy Captain Mark Matthews, a salvage expert who is playing a key role in the operation, said part of the search zone was deeper than 4.5km.
"The vehicle is programmed to fly 30 metres over the floor of the ocean to get a good mapping of what's beneath and to the sides," Capt Matthews told CNN.
"The chart we had showed between 4200 and 4400 metres depth.
"As it was contouring itself to the bottom ... it went to 4500 metres and once it hit that max depth, it said `hey, this is deeper than I am programmed to be', so it aborted the mission to basically interface with the crew so they could refine the task."
He said the mission was aborted "in a very far corner" of the search area.
So they're just shifting the search box a little bit away from that deep water and proceeding with the search."
JACC chief Angus Houston told reporters on Monday that another much larger vessel with wreckage recovery capability would be needed if the water depths exceeded Bluefin-21's capability, saying that was "being looked at as we speak".
AAP is seeking comment from JACC about whether such a vessel is available.
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/2014/04/15/09/51/drone-data-being-probed-for-malaysia-plane
"The vehicle is programmed to fly 30 metres over the floor of the ocean to get a good mapping of what's beneath and to the sides," Capt Matthews told CNN.
"The chart we had showed between 4200 and 4400 metres depth.
"As it was contouring itself to the bottom ... it went to 4500 metres and once it hit that max depth, it said `hey, this is deeper than I am programmed to be', so it aborted the mission to basically interface with the crew so they could refine the task."
He said the mission was aborted "in a very far corner" of the search area.
So they're just shifting the search box a little bit away from that deep water and proceeding with the search."
JACC chief Angus Houston told reporters on Monday that another much larger vessel with wreckage recovery capability would be needed if the water depths exceeded Bluefin-21's capability, saying that was "being looked at as we speak".
AAP is seeking comment from JACC about whether such a vessel is available.
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/2014/04/15/09/51/drone-data-being-probed-for-malaysia-plane