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JACC hopeful Bluefin-21 will yield results soon
Perth, April 18
FOR Angus Houston, rescuing drowning sailors in darkness from a stormy sea, searching for downed planes in snow-capped Canadian mountains, and dropping supplies to fishing boats in the middle of the ocean is nothing compared with the magnitude of the “unique” task of trying to find Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.
In an exclusive interview with News Corp Australia, the Chief Coordinator of the Joint Agency Coordination Centre and former defence chief said the sheer scale and global focus on the mission to find the missing Boeing 777 airliner and the 239 souls on board Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 dwarfed anything he had done as a young helicopter pilot or as military chief.
After the initial confusion from Malaysian authorities about the fate of the jet it was clear that Australia needed a steady pair of hands to coordinate the massive search effort inside its search and rescue zone.
Air Chief Marshal Houston said he was hopeful the underwater search of a “closely defined area” by the US Navy submersible Bluefin 21 and its sonar would yield results soon.
The vessel did its fifth dive to 4,500 metres yesterday after its sonar drew a blank on Thursday night. So far it has covered 110 square kilometres.
“Right now we are still in the inner circle,” Air Chief Marshall Houston said.
“We will cover the entire area in the next few days.
“I am hopeful that we will find something, but if we don’t then so be it.”
The US Navy submersible Bluefin 21 has so far covered 110 square kilometres.[/caption]
Allan Grant “Angus” Houston has a long and distinguished career in search and rescue and overseeing large scale military operations.
In 1980 he was awarded the Air Force Cross for valour when he flew his Iroquois chopper into a fierce storm at night off the NSW coast to conduct an open sea rescue.
The citation referred to his “outstanding skill, resolution and leadership”.
But he says: “There is no comparison between this and the simple operations I used to do when flying a helicopter, or supervised later on.
“Rescuing people from wild seas is very demanding and intense for a short period, but you go out and do the rescue and then come home and the mission is done.
“The additional level of complexity on this operation makes it unique, and a huge challenge.”
That includes managing a fleet of 14 ships and more than a dozen aircraft and upwards of 4,000 people from seven nations, including 1500 Australians; juggling the demands of several governments, including China and Malaysia, that are not known for their transparency; the expectation of hundreds of angry relatives; and feeding an insatiable media machine.
While the search continued yesterday 2,000km northwest of Perth, authorities began to prepare angry relatives and a global audience for the end of the costly and futile sea and air search that has already cost close to US$100 million (RM324 million).
As the head of the Joint Agency Coordination Centre Angus Houston will make the call about when to cease the air-sea search and he told News Corp Australia that day would come later next week.
He conceded that the expensive search could not go on indefinitely, but stressed that any decision would be made “in conjunction with our international partners”.
He said he was driven by the need to find visual proof of the final resting place of the airliner so the families of those lost could obtain some closure.
Today marks six weeks since the flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing vanished into thin air.