TimelineOfficial finding5 Apr 2014 00:00 UTCSearch 2014–2017
Towed-pinger detections — not MH370
April 2014
Acoustic detections in the search area are investigated with an AUV. No wreckage is found. The detections are not attributed to 9M-MRO’s recorders.
In early April 2014 ships towing acoustic pinger locators reported detections near the 7th arc. Underwater locator beacons on flight recorders are designed to ping at 37.5 kHz for about 30 days. Bluefin-21 subsequently surveyed the seafloor around the detections and found no aircraft. The ATSB does not treat these detections as MH370. They remain in the file as a caution about how badly the ear wants a signal in a silent ocean.