Malaysian authorities expanded their search for the missing jetliner westward toward India on Thursday, saying it may have flown for several hours after its last contact with the ground.
CBS News correspondent Bob Orr reports that there are technical indicators suggesting the plane continued to fly for an unspecified period of time after civilian air traffic controllers lost radar contact with the jet. Sources say the Boeing 777 continued to attempt to transmit routine data about the plane’s engines and performance to satellites. Malaysian authorities and Boeing apparently did not downlink the data, so details from plane’s transmissions are not known.
But, the fact that the jet was continuing to send signals is a strong indication that the jet did not crash immediately after radar contact was lost. The engines instead continued to run, Orr reports, meaning the plane continued in flight or perhaps was on the ground but still producing power.
In addition, U.S. radar experts have looked at the Malaysian military radar track, which seemed to show the jet flying hundreds of miles off course west of its flight path, and back across the Malaysian peninsula. Sources say the radar appears to be legitimate and there is a strong reason to suspect that the unidentified blips — seen on military controller screens — are images of Malaysian Airlines 370, CBS informs.
