Originally Posted by
PNWFlyer
I think they meant “hiding it” by crashing the aircraft if a very remote, deep and mountainous part of the ocean. The Titanic was relatively easy to find, flat ocean floor. Try finding it in an underwater mountain rage.
Also, it is going somewhere. Currents can move it around and spread it out. That is why they find a piece every so often washed up somewhere. It would take some Star Trek level sensors to find this thing now.
The stuff they are finding are small parts that float. Surface currents can take floaty stuff all over the world.
The big pieces are too heavy to get moved around on the bottom.
Harder to find on uneven bottom surfaces but not impossible... aluminum has different characteristics than rock. Also other than the Perth/Aarbian Gulf shipping lane, the search region is very lightly travelled so shouldn't be too much man-made debris out there. Especially since there would have been almost no shipping traffic anywhere in that area prior to the modern age and petroleum... supertankers don't sink nearly as often as the sailing ships of yore.
The real challenge is that, compared to most famous shipwrecks, the search area is exceptionally large. Either need to narrow it down a bit or use autnonomous search vehicles which don't require an expensive surface support ship. Yes the USN has such things, for different applications... turn 'em loose and let them do their thing for months on end. They'll report back periodically.