could it be some other factors, debris in the way, other items blocking the signal? possibly, but intermitten si is not something we typically demonstrated in the lab. anish, miles, rob, thanks to all of you. appreciate it. so passengers on flight 370 have been ruled out as suspects in this plane s disappearance, but the crew members are still suspects. and today an interesting move by investigators when it comes to those cockpit recordings. we ll talk about that next. at your ford dealer think? they think about tires. and what they ve been through lately. polar vortexes, road construction, and gaping potholes. so with all that behind you, you might want to make sure you re safe and in control. ford technicians are ready to find the right tires for your vehicle. get up to $120 in mail-in rebates on four select tires when you use the ford service credit card at the big tire event. see what the ford experts think about your tires. at your ford dealer.
nautical miles. a lot of things can impact that. the thermal degradation, the changes of temperature at the various layers of the water, the sea floor, ocean topology, mountains, cliffs, underwater valleys, vegetation in the water, debris, all of that can degrade the distance at which the signal is heard, and then also as we talked about, the battery output. as we approach the end of life, that signal is going to become weaker and you re going to have to be closer to it to hear it. it might become weaker, but would it be intermittent because we re hearing from the chinese news agency it was about a minute and a half in which the signal was picked up. what would be the best explanation in your view if this, indeed, is the pulse of a black box? typically the signal is not intermittent. maybe it s weaker and it s harder to hear, but as the battery degrades, the signal would decline in output but you would not get an intermitten si in the operation of the unit.