New possible pings detected in hunt for lost MH370 jet

Perth, Australia: An Australian aircraft hunting for the missing Malaysian jet picked up a new possible underwater signal on Thursday in the same area search crews detected sounds earlier in the week that were consistent with an aircraft’s black boxes. The Australian navy P-3 Orion, which has been dropping sound-locating buoys into the water near where the original sounds were heard, picked up a “possible signal” that may be from a man-made source, said Angus Houston, who is coordinating the search off Australia’s west coast. “The acoustic data will require further analysis overnight,” Houston said in a statement. If confirmed, this would be the fifth underwater signal picked up in the hunt for Flight 370, which vanished over a month ago on a flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing. [caption id=“attachment_1474637” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] In this April 9, 2014 photo provided by the Australian Defense Force, a Royal Australian Air Force AP-3C Orion flies past Australian Defense vessel Ocean Shield on a mission to drop sonar buoys to assist in the acoustic search of the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. AP[/caption] On Tuesday, the Australian vessel Ocean Shield picked up two underwater sounds, and an analysis of two other sounds detected in the same general area on Saturday showed they were consistent with a plane’s flight recorders, or “black boxes.” The Australian navy has been dropping buoys from planes in a pattern near where the Ocean Shield’s signals were heard. Royal Australian Navy Commodore Peter Leavy said each buoy is dangling a hydrophone listening device about 300 meters (1,000 feet) below the surface. The hope, he said, is the buoys will help better pinpoint the signals. Associated Press