MH370: Ground-Breaking Report Reveals Location

Dr Robert Westphal, an expert in passive radar systems, first proposed the idea of using WSPR transmissions to detect and track MH370 in July 2020. Dr. Westphal presented his ideas in a paper titled “Geocaching in the Ionosphere” at the HamSCI conference in 2021.

Dr Westphal had previously written a paper in 2015 proposing the use of GPS satellite signals as a passive radar system and holds several related patents. The idea of using amateur radio signals as a passive radar system to detect and track aircraft was first proposed in a NATO paper written by the Finnish Air Defence Academy in 2016.

A crash location of around 29.0°S 99.5°E is within the area defined by Prof. Pattiaratchi and Prof.Wijeratne of the University of Western Australia in their drift analysis, which was between 28°Sand 33°S along the 7th Arc. 

The crash area is 70 nmi by 40 nmi or 130 km by 89km and about 46 per cent of the new area has been searched before.

The prime location is 1,560 km or 842 nmi from Perth.

In Boeing’s end-of-flight simulations, the company suggested that the 777 could have, depending on a range of factors, glided up to 58 nmi (107 km).

The surface wind at 29.128°S 99.934°E on 8 March 2014 at 00:00 UTC was 17.8 knots from150°T. The wind was a fresh breeze and the wave height would be just over 1.1 m, with small waves becoming longer and with numerous white caps.

Part of the crash area shown in the above graphic was searched before by Ocean Infinity on 10 May 2018. The search width on either side of the 7thArc was around 22 nmi at this latitude. As no points of interest were found during the previous search, it is, therefore, reasonable to start with that part of the new search area further out than 22 nmi from the 7th Arc and not previously scoured by the autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) from Ocean Infinity the report says.