US expert says Boeing could take over hunt for MH370

A veteran aviation expert said Boeing could take up the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.

A veteran aviation expert said US aircraft manufacturing giant Boeing could take up the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 after Australia, China and Malaysia call it off in coming weeks.

John Goglia, an aviation safety consultant, professor of aviation and former member of the US ­National Transportation Safety Board, said that with national governments — particularly Malaysia — showing little interest in carrying on an underwater survey operation that has cost $200 million so far, he expected the private sector to step in.

“The search will continue, but it will be privately run,” Mr Goglia told Popular Mechanics.

“It’ll be smaller and more focused, but that’s probably better,” he told the US publication.

The Australian-led search for the Boeing 777 in the southern ­Indian Ocean is due to finish this month, with the remaining vessel operated by the Dutch Fugro ­marine survey group on its final sweep of the last corner of the 120,000sq km target zone.

In a report last month, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, in conjunction with a panel of international experts and the CSIRO, identified a new, smaller search area further north as the next logical area to look.

But the three governments have agreed the search will not be resumed without a precise new lead.

“As agreed with the governments of Malaysia and China, if the aircraft is not found in the current search area, the search will be suspended subject to credible new evidence leading to a specific location,” Transport Minister Darren Chester told The Australian.

As the manufacturer of the Boeing 777, an aircraft model in service around the world, aviation experts have observed it would be in Boeing’s interest to establish whether MH370 went down on March 8, 2014, with 239 people on board as a result of a mechanical problem or human intervention.

However, an international air crash investigator said the choice for Boeing of whether to fund a continued search for MH370 would be a tricky one in terms of legal liability.

“I would be surprised if they made that commitment in this case unless they had some buy-in from their insurance company,” the investigator said.

A Boeing spokesman declined to comment yesterday.