Malaysians frustrated by pace of search for MH370

Authorities plan to soon scale back the air and surface search for the MH370(REUTERS)

Malaysians frustrated with the pace at which a US undersea drone operates on Wednesday urged all parties to continue their search operation in all areas as they try to find the missing Malaysia Airline plane.

A US Navy underwater drone sent to search for the missing jetliner on the floor of the Indian Ocean could take up to two months to scour a 600 square kilometres area where the plane is believed to have sunk, US search authorities said on Tuesday.

"In technically view, it is valid but on the general view or the laymen perspective it is too long," said Muhammad Rushdi, 30-year-old Malaysian.

The prediction coincided with an early end to the first mission by the Bluefin-21 autonomous underwater vehicle, six hours into what was meant to be a 16-hour operation on Monday after it exceeded its 4.5 km depth limit and was automatically returned to the surface.

The introduction of the undersea drone marks a new slower paced phase in the search for Malaysia Airlines MH370 which disappeared on March 8 and is presumed to have crashed thousands of kilometres off course with the loss of all 239 people on board.

Authorities, who soon plan to scale back the air and surface search, are confident they know the approximate position of wreckage of the Boeing 777, some 1 550 km northwest of Perth, and are moving ahead on the basis of four acoustic signals they believe are from its black box recorders.

Some Malaysians thought the air and surface search should not stop as it is the only hope to find the missing plane. "Of course, don't stop. Please continue," said 32 year-old Nural Shia, adding that there is a lot of hope from the people.

But having not heard a "ping" for almost a week and with the batteries on the locator beacons two weeks past their 30-day expected life, the slow-moving underwater robot was launched on Monday to try and locate wreckage.

The search for the missing plane is on track to be the most difficult and expensive search and recovery operation in aviation history

From its first mission, the Bluefin-21 produced six hours of data which authorities analysed to find no objects of interest, Lt. J.G. Daniel S. Marciniak, a spokesperson for the US Seventh Fleet, said in a statement.

The robot, which takes two hours to descend another two to return to the surface, as well as several hours to download data, will build up a detailed acoustic image of the area using sophisticated "sidescan" sonar. It hopes to repeat its success in finding a F-15 fighter jet which crashed off Japan last year.

It is capable of spending up to 16 hours scouring the sea floor. If it detects possible wreckage, it will be sent back to photograph it in underwater conditions with extremely low light.

Officials are focusing their acoustic search on an area equivalent to a medium-sized city. But the much broader search area off the Australian coast covers about 60 000 square kilometres, according to the government.

Malaysian authorities have still not ruled out mechanical problems as causing the plane's disappearance, but say evidence suggests it was deliberately diverted from its scheduled route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

An aircraft's black box records data from the cockpit and conversations among flight crew and may provide answers about what happened to the missing plane. The search for the missing plane is on track to be the most difficult and expensive search and recovery operation in aviation history.