Page 7 - Operating Capability News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

What kind of danger does that look like for you? >> that's right. our crews really were operating their craft and pushing themselves for the extent of operating capability. they were putting themselves at risk, that's what we do. that's what the coast guard is trained to do. we are going to try to get as close as possible. normally hurricane hunter aircraft fly at 10,000 feet. we try to push ours down to 2,000 feet so we can see and try to get a few of the ocean and see if we can lay some eyes on that vessel we were unable to do so even with sophisticated system on board. >> these storms were ...

Is it a surprise to you this bluefin-21 reached its underwater depth? >> not a surprise to me, anderson. they are operating right the edge of their operating capability. much of the sea floor is at that depth, 4,500 meters. if they come in a little bit to the south they will be on the flank of an underwater plateau. more rugged. to the north deeper still. they have the maps. i don't know what the accuracy of the maps they have. >> if they seem to be caught by surprise by this trench or depth does it indicate that they don't have a real good scene of the floor? >> well it's tough to get that ki...

>> yeah, i think so. it's a -- i think it's like a maritime order. when you have a ship in trouble you go help it. this is not under that order but i think that this is where the united states is proven to be available for whatever it's needed for, even if there were only a few people involved in that plane. >> what joe's piece in the story didn't mention is these are mainly military assets being used and as a former military pilot, what do you think of that, mikey? >> i think it's the best equipment for the job, don. when you look at the state of the art technology like the p-8 that only init...

They're right on the very edge of that operating capability. if they move to the north, it drops rapidly to about 6,000 meters. if they go a bit to the south it climbs up to 2,000 meters. but i think it is to the north that it could cause a problem. >> what happens if it goes deeper? >> it would float -- -- it would implode. >> gets crushed because of the pressure? >> yeah, and i know they're thinking about that. they can fly higher above the terrain. >> it is called a side scanning sonar, but does it have a depth of -- i mean, can it scan at a certain depth? does it have to be on the same lev...

It reached initial operating capability in december of 2013 last year with the u.s. navy. this thing has synthetic aperture radar, signal intelligence, a web cam with thermal imaging radar. and yet it still has problems with trying to find debris in the water. it also doesn't have an in flight refueling capability. it gets that in 2015. the p-3 orion, has no inflight refueling capability. they're having to make the long trek out there to get minimal hours on water and go back again. the whole area, the whole search is really testing the limitations of what is supposed to be some of the best te...