Jax-based flight crew continues Malaysian airliner search

While Malaysian officials have announced their conclusion that a missing airliner crashed in to the southern Indian Ocean, we’ve confirmed a Jacksonville-based search crew continues their efforts.

A P-8A Poseidon aircraft out of NAS Jax has assisted in the search for the airliner since March 14^th. Shortly after that first mission, they were sent to this "southern corridor" to search for potential plane degree spotted on satellite imagery.  They have flown one mission per day out of Perth, Australia- and will continue to do so.

A statement issued to WOKV from NAS Jax, on behalf of Captain Sean Leidman, says yesterday’s mission was about 1,000 nautical miles to the southwest of Perth. The crew based in Jacksonville- which includes 20 in the flight crew, maintenance and support- spent a combined 9 ½ hours on the mission which, including transit time, left 3.7 hours on the search itself. No debris was located on their 6,600 square mile search, which was complicated by dense fog.

Another mission was taken on for Friday. Daytime missions are also scheduled for March 26^th and 27^th.

We will continue to track the latest developments in these search efforts.