Locator pings emitted by flight data and cockpit voice recorders, known as the black boxes, can be picked up from deep underwater. But even if the batteries expire, locating the boxes remains a possibility. “It’s terribly important to find the black boxes, because if they don’t find them, they will know nothing about the aircraft,” he said, citing a 2009 incident when black boxes were found two years after a crash in the Atlantic Ocean. David Learmount, a consulting editor at the aviation news website Flightglobal, said the black boxes’ batteries can transmit signals up to 30 days after the crash. It added that a second ship, John Lethbridge affiliated with the Deep Ocean Search firm, will join the search team later this week.

Source: National Post June 01, 2016 12:45 UTC