MH370: Missing plane search 'most challenging ever'
The search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 is the "most challenging" ever seen, the man responsible for co-ordinating the search from Australia says.
Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston also said that the search for the plane could take weeks.
The plane disappeared on 8 March as it was travelling from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. It was carrying 239 people.
Search teams are scouring the southern Indian Ocean for signs of the plane.
On Tuesday, the Malaysian authorities released the full transcript of communications between flight MH370 and Kuala Lumpur's air traffic control. They said there was no indication of anything abnormal in the transcript.
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Speaking on Tuesday, ACM Houston, who is heading a new Joint Agency Co-ordination Centre (JACC) managing the search, said the task was "very complex" because the teams had no hard information to work from.
Search efforts would take time, he said. "It's not something that will necessarily be resolved in the next two weeks, for example."
Ten military aircraft and nine ships were scheduled to examine Tuesday's search zone, while an Australia defence vessel with a towed pinger was en route to the area, he added.
ACM Houston explained that they had no information on how high the plane had flown once it disappeared off radar, the BBC's Jonah Fisher in Perth reports.
A relatively small change in altitude could affect both the plane's speed and fuel consumption - and over the course of seven hours dramatically alter the location of any crash site, our correspondent adds.
Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston also said that the search for the plane could take weeks.
The plane disappeared on 8 March as it was travelling from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. It was carrying 239 people.
Search teams are scouring the southern Indian Ocean for signs of the plane.
On Tuesday, the Malaysian authorities released the full transcript of communications between flight MH370 and Kuala Lumpur's air traffic control. They said there was no indication of anything abnormal in the transcript.
Most computers will open PDF documents automatically, but you may need Adobe Reader
Speaking on Tuesday, ACM Houston, who is heading a new Joint Agency Co-ordination Centre (JACC) managing the search, said the task was "very complex" because the teams had no hard information to work from.
Search efforts would take time, he said. "It's not something that will necessarily be resolved in the next two weeks, for example."
Ten military aircraft and nine ships were scheduled to examine Tuesday's search zone, while an Australia defence vessel with a towed pinger was en route to the area, he added.
ACM Houston explained that they had no information on how high the plane had flown once it disappeared off radar, the BBC's Jonah Fisher in Perth reports.
A relatively small change in altitude could affect both the plane's speed and fuel consumption - and over the course of seven hours dramatically alter the location of any crash site, our correspondent adds.