Malaysian Airlines Flight 370: Australia Deploys Boeing 737 to Serve as Air Traffic Coordinator & Avert Mid-Air Collision Among Search Jets

Australia deployed on Tuesday an Air Force E-7A Wedgetail, a modified Boeing 737, to serve as air traffic controller over the Indian Ocean to avert a mid-air mishap among search jets from different countries scouring the area for debris of the missing Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777 plane.

The plane has advanced radar, according to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority tweet.

The search zone if about 254,000 square kilometers which is about 180 minutes away from Perth.

Eleven aircraft and nine ships were focusing on less than half of the search zone on Tuesday because of the bad weather and low visibility forecast, reported the Joint Agency Coordination Centre.

The weather conditions made a Japanese Coast Guard jet, which has high-performance radar and infrared cameras, complete only one of its three planned passes over the search zone and had to descend to 150 metres above the whitecaps at one point and eventually turn back.

The need for an airborne traffic control was felt after concerns were also raised over possible collision of the jets with ships searching the zone as some of the planes occasionally dip lower above the sea for short periods.

Normally, ground-based air traffic controllers with radars and other technical equipment track the aircraft and serve as traffic enforcer of the airplanes, but due to the remote location of the search area, it is very far from any regular air traffic controller.

Read also:

Malaysian Airline Flight 370: Disappearance of Boeing 777 Made Illuminati Member Jacob Rothschild Sole Owner of Major Semiconductor Patent

Malaysian Airlines Flight 370: Veteran Pilot Believes Fire Hit Boeing 777 & Pilot Was Trying to Divert Jet to Langkawi for Emergency Landing

Malaysian Airlines Flight 370: Relatives of Passengers Express Grief at PM Najib Razak TV Announcement that There is No Doubt the Missing Jet Crashed into the Indian Ocean

Malaysian Airlines Flight 370: Netizens Eagerly Wait for News About Missing Aircraft If Update Comes from Handsome Aussie Pilot Russell Adams

Malaysian Airlines Flight 370: Article that Claims the Missing Boeing 777 Jet Was Found in Bermuda Triangle Is a Perfect April Fool's Hoax

As days turn into weeks and now almost a month since Flight 370 went missing, former Australian Defence Force Chief Angus Houston hinted the possibility of recovery is dwindling due to lack of reliable data about the missing plane's altitude and speed.

He said, quoted by ABC, "What we really need now is to find debris wreckage from the aircraft and that will change the whole nature of our search because we will then be able to employ high technology to assist us to do the underwater part of the search."