All hands on deck as crew leads hunt for lost jet

THROUGH the blackness, powerful search lights sweep the ocean ahead of HMAS Success.

THROUGH the blackness, powerful search lights sweep the ocean ahead of HMAS Success as she ploughs through 4m waves hunting for wreckage from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.

Lookouts wrapped in wet-weather gear, clutching binoculars and night-vision glasses, scan the surrounding ocean for anything out of the ordinary.

Allison Norris, the supply ship’s commanding officer, has told her crew to report anything unusual, no matter how small.

“We’re looking for anything, from clothing or a cushion to a rescue chute or a piece of fuselage,” Captain Norris tells The Australian. “Anything that could resemble any object from an aircraft. We will investigate everything they report.”

It’s cold, about 12C, and the lookouts are out in the open in gloves, beanies and “doona jackets”. The water temperature is about 10C.

As ships and aircraft from five nations hunt the southern Indian Ocean for the missing aircraft, the Royal Australian Navy is sending its rescue vessel, Ocean Shield, with deep-sea equipment able to recover the black-box flight recorders if the aircraft is found.

On HMAS Success, lookouts are stationed at several levels, from the bridge “wings” down to the flight deck on the ship’s stern.

“We keep the search going 24/7,” says Captain Norris. “Essentially, we are employing everybody as a lookout.”

That means carefully managing fatigue among the crew. For three days the ship has operated in 2.5m waves, easy for the 18,000-tonne vessel to manage. Visibility has closed in from time to time to about 500m, but after two days of generally good search weather, conditions are deteriorating.

The sea state is becoming rougher, the wind is increasing and a cold front is expected to pass through the area early today.

Weather conditions will deteriorate significantly, says Captain Norris, and gale-force winds are likely.

“I guess we are lucky. We expected that to come through yesterday so we’ve had an extra 48 hours of reasonable conditions, but we expect tomorrow and Wednesday to be less favourable.

“Over the next 24 to 48 hours, seas may increase up to about 4m, potentially higher, and that does make search conditions difficult.

“If there is anything in the water, you may see it in the peak of a wave, it may disappear in the trough, and it might be difficult to regain sight of.”

Cloud can help because the crew is not straining to see against the sun’s glare. Much depends on the ship’s company of 218, who include 38 women, because radar does not pick up an object lying on or just below the surface.

During the day there’s a lookout in the “eyes of the ship”, watching directly over the bow for objects dead ahead.

When something is spotted, a marker is thrown overboard and the position is also put down electronically.

The supply ship can use a “Williamson turn” — designed to rescue a man overboard — to precisely reverse its course and find an object it has passed.

When it’s safe, one of the ship’s fast and manoeuvrable RIB’s (Rigid Inflatable Boats) is sent out for a closer look.

Captain Norris is aware of the possibility of running over a big piece of wreckage, which would destroy valuable evidence and damage the ship as well. “The main threat is at night,” says Captain Norris. “We maintain a safe speed so that we can have as much time as possible to avoid something ahead of the ship.”