Point 6 is very important
So the search area has be reduced, But the Depth is very high. That is not goodAn update after a long time of no press releases
India scales down search for missing military aircraft IAF AN-32
By Manu Pubby, ET Bureau | Aug 13, 2016, 03.14 AM IST
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NEW DELHI: India has scaled down its largest ever maritime search as chances diminish of finding a missing military aircraft in the Bay of Bengal. The AN32 transport plane with 29 persons onboard disappeared from radar off the Chennai coast on July 22.
As many as 19 Indian warships, a Russian rescue ship, submarines, an imaging satellite and special operations spy planes had been engaged in the search at its most intense. Five vessels are currently scanning the seabed off Chennai and several aircraft are engaged in a wider surface search for debris.
Searchers fear that the 27 tonne plane may have sunk to the sea bed, making any recovery almost impossible. The AN32 transporter had veered to the left before plunging and disappearing. Officials involved in the search told ET that the mission had not been called, off only scaled down.
The five ships, including two civilian deep-sea search vessels, are concentrating on the area where the radar recorded the plane's steep drop. "Several aircraft remain on the operation and we have expanded the surface search area.
As of now, no trace of sign of the missing AN32 has been recorded," a senior official with knowledge of the search mission told ET. However, the absence of any underwater beacon on the missing aircraft - which was upgraded last year at an Indian facility - makes the search akin to finding a needle in a haystack, searchers said. Also, the depth of the ocean where the fall was recorded is in excess of 3,000 metres, making search and salvage highly challenging.
The deepest salvage operation car-ried out in India took place last year when a specialized ship hired by Reliance Industries lifted out debris from a crashed Coast Guard Dornier aircraft from over 950 meters in the same area.
As reported by ET, there are striking similarities in the manner in which the Dornier and AN32 aircraft disappeared off Chennai on routine missions. What has frustrated search teams is the total absence of any clues to the fate of the aircraft - no floating debris has been located.
The absence of any beacon on the AN32 that can transmit from underwater has meant that assets have been deployed for the search mission along the presumed path taken by the missing plane. The air force, which flies routine missions from Chennai to Port Blair--the leg on which the AN 32 went missing--has now modified its rules for planes flying over the sea.
After the incident, AN 32s flying on the route have been equipped with a new emergency beacon that can transmit from underwater, as is standard for aircraft operating on maritime missions.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com...t-iaf-an-32/articleshow/53678964.cms?from=mdr
. Any news if any DSRV is being brought in here?
sorry i did not reply yesterdaySo the search area has be reduced, But the Depth is very high. That is not good
sorry i did not reply yesterday
There is a report that came out today on this
Six days search did not help find debris of AN-32
Deep-sea search by ocean research vessel Sagar Nidhi for the remains of Indian Air Force aircraft AN 32 in Bay of Bengal for the last six days did not yielded any results till Saturday evening.
The vessel belonging to Chennai-based National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) had been scanning the seabed with its advanced device since August 8. The vessel will take a break from search, as it will arrive at Chennai port for refuelling for three days, before the search resumes mid-next week.
AN 32 transport aircraft went missing with 29 passengers onboard on July 22, about 15 minutes after it took off from Tambaram Air Force base to Port Blair. "We have received some signals, but it is not clear. Further survey is required," said Satheesh C Shenoi, director, NIOT.
Sagar Nidhi, which returned from Mauritius, was directly diverted and arrived at the search location about 169 miles off Chennai coast on early Monday morning.
The vessel had since then been scanning the seafloor with its multi-beam echo sounder and sub-bottom profiler through acoustic waves. The vessel has to survey a total area of 220 nautical miles at a depth of about 3500metres.
Shenoi said the vessel will return to Chennai port for three days for fueling and loading of provisions for the search team, as it was directly sent to the search location upon return from Mauritius. The vessel spent almost eight months on research activity off the coast of Mauritius.
The ship has a multi-beam echo sounder device that determines the depth of seabed and detects objects in water through acoustic waves up to a depth of 6000 meters. However, the resolution of the scanned images of the seafloor will reduce as the depth increases. Rough sea conditions and lack of information on the exact location of the debris may also make search activity difficult.
Deep sea search was earlier delayed by a week, as rough ocean due to bad weather delayed arrival of the vessel from Mauritius. For two weeks after the aircraft went missing, Indian Navy, Air Force and Indian Coast Guard were jointly conducting search on the surface of Bay of Bengal looking for the aircraft debris.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...find-debris-of-AN-32/articleshow/53691860.cms
, at least a closure can be there for the families.
Dont have high hopes yet.. Unless its proven scientifically..@PARIKRAMA An excellent news for an otherwise dismal day !!!!
However if we are able to retrieve some parts of plane we may understand actually what happened to the aircraft.
