pings, mr. boyd, is it a sound that s so distinct that it cannot be mistaken for something else, or is there something else in the ocean that could emit those same sounds? to my knowledge, that 37.5 kilo hertz is specific to a black box. is that really what they heard briefly or not, that s the open question, because so many of these sure things, we re getting a little jaded now, but if it was that, that probably was a black box, but we don t know yet. we don t know yet. and if it is a black box, the black box that we re all waiting to hear from, what will the black box tell us? well, see, that s the problem here. a lot of people are thinking, we ll get the black box, it will solve the mystery. a black box, whether it s a recorder or the regular flight recorder, will tell you every parameter on the airplane, what the fuel was, what the flaps were, what the speed was, all those things. the thing it may not lead us to is why did that airplane turn around 40 minutes after takeoff. s
to be potentially in the right location which is a few hundred miles from that central april 5th latest search location, northwest of perth. and that it was able to detect this beacon which what might be on the 30th day, which will be the life expectancy of that battery. that s what s so remarkable here. and that ship is saying that that signal is 37.5 kilohertz per second which is in concert with what you re saying. but what more would you need to hear from this chinese vessel or anyone else leading this investigation to help verify whether what they re hearing is, indeed, potentially the pulse from a flight or voice recorder? sure. first thing we would want is multiple sources they can pick up this signal. also, keep in mind, there should be two beacons in that general debris field. the cockpit voice recorder and
shie shield. i mean, is it likely with such rudimentary methods that they have picked something up? it is possible. simple is better, and if that signal can travel through the water and reach that hydrophone, you will get a response. and they have evidently think they have heard a response. and also, any sew for tn sonar out there at 37.5 kilohertz will see the frequency as with well. and thank you so much. and i will get to the panel shortly, but richard, you wanted to get in on that, and very great question. we will talk more about that coming up, and time is running out on the flight recorders or the black boxes, and if the beacons stop working, just how much harder does the entire operation get? we will discuss that on the other side of the break. don t go anywhere.
the southern indian ocean. the possible ping sounds from the plane s black box were discovered by the ship in an area outside today s search area, about 1,000 miles west of perth, australia. the chinese report, which is believed to have come directly from the ship, said the pulses were on the 37.5 gigahertz frequency, the same as the plane s pings that would be sent from that black box. chinese television earlier reported some of its ships have been moved to the new location but didn t say why, but it s worth being wary about these reports, because there have been so many false leads before, and a chinese report from aboard the ship says it s right to be cautious. translator: we cannot confirm if the pulse signal detected this afternoon belongs to the black box of malaysian airlines mh-370. the information compiled is being analyzed by china s maritime rescue center, and they are awaiting professional confirmation of the nature of the signal. reporter: the australian authorities, w
haixun. this was not one of the black box detectors from the u.s. that are so technologically advanced. do we know what type of detector is on the ship and how capable or how assured we can be that it picked up something substantial? i don t really know what the capabilities of the chinese are with regards to this. again, the report is from the chinese news agency and not from any official on the ship or anybody in australia. although with the previous guest just said, 37.5 kilohertz in a one second or two second burst, that is the frequency and period for beacons on the flight data recorder and cockpit recorders. until we really nail that down and exactly what they have out there and what they detected, i