Long-range underwater acoustic detection of aircraft surface impacts—The influence of acoustic propagation conditions and impact parameters

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Abstract
The 2019 crash of an F35 fighter aircraft off the east coast of Japan was detected at a range of approximately 3000 km by a hydroacoustic station of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organisation’s International Monitoring System. In this paper we compare the acoustic propagation conditions relating to that detection to those relating to the crash of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 in the Indian Ocean in 2014 with a view to reassessing the likelihood that acoustic signals detected on a similar hydroacoustic station could have been related to the loss of MH370. Possible differences in source levels due to different assumptions about impact parameters are also considered. Despite several extensive searches, the location of the wreckage of MH370 remains unknown.