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MH370
Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing disappeared with 239 passengers and crew on board on 8 March 2014. Photograph: Samsul Said/Reuters
Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing disappeared with 239 passengers and crew on board on 8 March 2014. Photograph: Samsul Said/Reuters

Australia to test new method of tracking planes in wake of MH370 disappearance

This article is more than 9 years old

New method tracks aircraft over remote oceanic areas every 15 minutes compared with 30 to 40 minutes previously

Australia is joining Indonesia and Malaysia in trialling a new method for tracking aircraft over remote oceanic areas.

Airservices Australia, along with its Malaysian and Indonesian counterparts, will test the new method that tracks aircraft every 15 minutes compared with 30 to 40 minutes previously.

It will use existing technology fitted to 90% of long-haul aircraft.

The new measures come after the disappearance of Malaysian airline MH370 a year ago.

The flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing disappeared with 239 passengers and crew on board on 8 March, 2014.

No firm evidence of the plane has turned up, despite an ongoing Australian-led search of the supposed crash region – the most expensive search and rescue operation in history.

Australia’s deputy prime minister, Warren Truss, is confident this new method of tracking would have triggered heightened surveillance of the doomed aircraft seven hours earlier when it changed direction.

The technology – automatic dependent surveillance contract or ADSC – transmits the aircraft’s position and the next two planned positions.

Airservices Australia chairman Angus Houston says the increase in frequency in which aircraft will automatically report this information allows air traffic controllers to track the aircraft position with greater accuracy.

“This is not a silver bullet, but it is an important step in delivering immediate improvements to the way we currently track aircraft while more comprehensive solutions are developed,” Houston said.

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