From CNN:
Along with new signs that searchers could be nearing the missing Malaysia Airlines plane, a fresh mystery surfaced Sunday.
The aircraft deliberately skirted Indonesian airspace as it went off the grid and veered off course, a senior Malaysian government source told CNN.
The new analysis of the flight’s path means the plane may have been taken along a route designed to avoid radar detection, the source said.
But why would someone steer the plane that way, and where is it now?
Those are key questions that investigators are trying to answer — and fast.
The HMS Echo, a British navy ship equipped with advanced detection gear, sailed into the search area Monday morning (Sunday afternoon ET), hoping to home in on the place where a Chinese crew detected two audio signals.
Investigators hope the pulses could be locator beacons from the plane’s data recorders, but they’re not sure yet.
Time could be running out. It might be only a few hours or a few days before the pingers aboard the plane stop transmitting for good.
The batteries inside the beacons, which are designed to start sending signals when a plane crashes into water, last about 30 days after the devices are activated.
That 30th day has come — though experts have said it’s possible that they could last several days longer if they were at their full strength.
