The USNS Mary Sears Locates the Adam Air Flight 574 Black Boxes

January 25, 2007

Bahasa Indonesia

Earlier this month, at the request of the Indonesian government, the U.S. Pacific Command assisted in the search for an Indonesian airliner that disappeared off the coast of Sulawesi on January 1. As part of that assistance, the U.S. Navy deployed the oceanographic survey ship the USNS Mary Sears to help map the possible location of the missing aircraft. During the search of the projected crash site of Adam Air Flight 574, the Mary Sears, using a Towed Pinger Locator, detected pingers on the same frequency of the black boxes associated with the missing airplane.

In subsequent sweeping of the ocean floor around the pinger location, the Mary Sears detected heavy debris scattered over a wide area and is currently analyzing that debris to verify if it is from the missing aircraft. Having completed its mission of locating the black boxes and informing the Indonesian government of their location, the Mary Sears is scheduled to depart Indonesian waters on January 26.

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