MH370: One day at a time, the search continues

Behind the daily chaos of the media contingent at the entrance of the Royal Australian Air Force Base Pearce in Perth, Australia, the twenty personnel from the Royal Malaysian Air Force are working hard to ensure that the two Hercules C130 aircraft that arrived three days ago is fit and able to embark on its second day of the search and rescue operation for flight MH370.

They have been up since dawn conducting maintainence and inspection services on the two aircraft which are scheduled to depart on this Monday morning. Astro AWANI's cameraman Sujenthiran Rajandram and I arrive at 8am ready to be embedded.

"The first Charlie will depart at 9:30am while the second will depart at 10am to the search area at the Indian Ocean," says Major Mohd Jafri Suboh, the chief of the Malaysian contingent, as he greeted us at the taxi area.

The first aircraft to depart has been assigned the duty of dropping sonar buoys at the search area that will send important data back via satellites. The second aircraft is suppose to look for objects that could be wreckage from flight MH370.

Sujenthiran and I have been told to board the first flight.

The seriousness of the job could be seen in the fast efficiency of the seven crew members of the aircraft, led by pilot Major Azhar Abdul Rahman and co-pilot Captain Ruzana Md Nasir. The buoys were loaded on board, straps, wires and clamps everywhere are tightened and retightened as we prepare to board the muscular machine.

The bareness of the interior and the roughness of the take-off of the military Hercules C130 is a far cry from the comfort and smoothness of a commercial plane like the Boeing 777. The passengers on board MH370 would not have assumed that comfort would lead them to a mysterious disappearance, never making it to their destination Beijing that fateful 8th of March.

The flight to the search area, which is approximately 1,800 km from Western Australia's mainland will take between three to four hours. This time is put to good use by Warrant Officer Jasmezi Md Yaziz, Flight Sergeants Shazela Abdul Murad and Fadzli Ismail as they prepare the buoy transmitters and the rest of the equipment for deployment. Its a wonder how they communicate with each other over the deafening roar of the aircraft's engine.

Halfway through the journey, we take a break for lunch. No stewards and stewardesses on this flight.

Boxes of fast prepared meals (ie: DIY sandwiches) is the menu of the day and everyone lines up to make themselves their own platter. Those who need a toilet break do so over a stainless steel bowl behind a grey plastic drape.

But no one is complaining. The duty and responsibility of this flight is far too important than the comfort of any single person on board.

A little while after lunch at 1pm, Major Azhar sounds the call. The aircraft is now in the search area. Its a huge area, around 319,000 square kilometres in size. But the aim is to define and refine the area so the search and recovery operation can be done more effectively and at a lesser risk. This has been the biggest challenge so far. The search has moved from the South China Sea, to the Andaman Sea and now the Indian Ocean.

The crew leap into action immediately. The aircraft descends to about 500 feet from the water surface and the large hydraulic ramp is lowered exposing the entire back end of the aircraft. There is no 'fasten seatbelt' sign or announcement and the stong gusts it produces in the aircraft makes Sujenthiran and I nervous even if we are already safely strapped in. But not the crew of the C130. They have been specially trained for missions and situations just like these.

The buoys are dropped into the ocean below very systematically. Each one is dropped approximately 200 miles from each other and this helps the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA), the body in charge of the operation in Australia, to measure the current and map out the search area. It isn't easy in the ocean. There aren't exactly any roadmaps.

Six are dropped altogether and the operation takes two hours. The next three hours, the crew rest as the pilot and the cockpit crew steer the aircraft back to RAAF Base Pearce in Perth. Its a quiet flight back to base, with the only sound being the loud whir of the powerful propeller engines. It feels like everyone is overwhelmed by the emotions of searching for the ill-fated Malaysian flag-bearing aircraft for almost a month.

Back at RAAF Base Pearce, Major Jafri approaches us to brief us on the day's operations just as the sun is about to go down.

"The operation was a success as far as dropping the sonar buoys in the search area goes. And our second aircraft came back without spotting anything of significance," he says.

As Sujenthiran and I head back out to the chaos of the media camped at the entrance of RAAF Base Pearce, we realise that tomorrow is another day and the men and women we had just met today will be heading out again, and so it will be for another day and another day. The hopes of the families, and of the nation, is counting on a conclusion.