In a groundbreaking development regarding the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, retired British engineer Richard Godfrey claims he has pinpointed the aircraft’s location using a novel method involving faint radio signals.
This revelation comes more than a decade after the flight vanished on March 8, 2014, with 239 people on board, leaving behind a mystery that has baffled experts and investigators alike.
For over ten years, extensive searches costing more than $200 million have yielded little evidence, with only a few pieces of debris washing ashore in distant locations.
However, Godfrey’s approach diverges from traditional search methods. He utilized a technology called WSPR (Weak Signal Propagation Reporter), which amateur radio enthusiasts use to send weak radio signals across vast distances. These signals, often less than one watt in power, can bounce off the ionosphere and travel thousands of miles, creating a web of potential data points.
Godfrey theorized that if MH370 flew through these radio threads, it would leave detectable disturbances in the signals. After analyzing over 200 billion lines of data from WSPRnet, he identified approximately 130 anomalies that corresponded with the aircraft’s last known flight path.
Remarkably, these disturbances formed a coherent track leading to a specific location: 29.128 degrees south and 99.934 degrees east, about 1,500 kilometers west of Perth, Australia.
This finding presents a stark contrast to the previous search efforts, which focused on a much broader area based on earlier satellite data. Godfrey’s calculations suggest that the wreckage could lie within a defined patch of ocean that had not been previously explored.
To validate his findings, he collaborated with a team from the University of Liverpool, who conducted their own analyses and confirmed a 74% probability that the wreckage is located within Godfrey’s identified coordinates.
Despite the compelling nature of Godfrey’s claims, skepticism remains. Critics argue that WSPR was not designed for tracking aircraft, and some question the absence of physical wreckage at the proposed site.
However, Godfrey counters that the principles of radio wave propagation are well-established, and prior debris findings, such as a flaperon discovered on Réunion Island, align with his calculations through ocean drift simulations.
The Malaysian government has taken notice of Godfrey’s assertions, recently signing a contract with Ocean Infinity, a deep-sea exploration company, to conduct a new search in the area identified by Godfrey.
This operation, which operates on a “no find, no fee” basis, signifies a renewed commitment to solving one of aviation’s greatest mysteries.
As the search gears up, the aviation community and the families of those lost on MH370 hold their breath, hoping that this innovative approach may finally bring closure to a tragedy that has lingered in the public consciousness for far too long.
Richard Godfrey’s findings could potentially mark a pivotal moment in the quest to uncover the truth behind the disappearance of MH370.