text: KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — The hunt for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 resumed in earnest on Saturday as surveillance planes returned to the skies above a newly defined search area in the southern Indian Ocean and spotted floating debris for the second day in a row, and a flotilla of vessels began arriving in the zone to find and identify the objects, the Australian authorities said. 
   
   Crews on two of the ships pulled several items from the water, but investigators determined that the objects were not from the missing plane, according to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, which is overseeing the search. 
   
   With several more ships en route to the zone early Sunday, the naval contingent of the multinational search force trying to locate the Boeing 777-200 was expected to reach a total of 10 vessels later in the day. A frigate from the Royal Australian Navy was also heading to the area and was scheduled to arrive on Tuesday and another Australian naval vessel was expected to set sail from Perth later Sunday, outfitted with special equipment to detect the plane’s data recorders, or black boxes, the authority said. 
   
   Continue reading the main story The Search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 Australia announced on Friday that it had moved the search area nearly 700 miles to the northeast of an area it had been searching for about a week.Full Graphic » Possible flight paths (based on different speeds the plane may have been traveling) Search areas March 28-30 5,000 FT. AUSTRALIA 10,000 FT. 547 m.p.h. 540 m.p.h. 460 m.p.h. Perth About 1,100 miles 10,000 FT. Planned search area for March 31 10,000 FT. Search areas March 19-27 10,000 FT. INDIAN OCEAN WATER DEPTH 15,000 FT. Locations of objects spotted in aerial and satellite images over the last two weeks Possible flight paths (based on different speeds the plane may have been traveling) 547 m.p.h. 540 m.p.h. 460 m.p.h. Search areas March 28-30 AUSTRALIA About 1,100 mi. Perth Planned search area for March 31 5,000 FT. Search areas March 19-27 10,000 FT. INDIAN OCEAN DEPTH: 15,000 FT. Locations of objects spotted in aerial and satellite images over the last two weeks More maps 
   
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   Two aircraft flying over the new search area on Saturday — one from the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force and the other from the Royal Australian Air Force — spotted floating debris. Five aircraft flying over the zone on Friday also spotted unidentified objects. 
   
   But officials involved in the search, mindful of the amount of detritus adrift in the world’s oceans, cautioned that the sightings were inconclusive on their own. “It is not known how much flotsam, such as from fishing activities, is ordinarily there,” the Maritime Safety Authority said in a statement. 
   
   A new analysis of radar data from March 8, as Flight 370 veered off its intended route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing and instead flew west over Peninsular Malaysia and then south over the Indian Ocean, compelled officials to shift the search area on Friday to a zone about 1,100 miles west of Perth. 
   
   The analysis showed that the plane was moving faster than investigators had previously estimated and therefore it would have burned fuel more quickly and possibly fallen into the Indian Ocean farther north than previously believed, officials said. 
   
   The new search area is about 700 miles northeast of a zone that had been the focus of search efforts for most of the week. 
   
   The revision of the search area was based largely on work done by analysts from Boeing in Seattle, part of an international team of experts collaborating with Malaysian investigators, officials here said. 
   
   They arrived at their conclusions after re-evaluating the radar data and weighing other factors such as the amount of fuel on the plane when it took off from Kuala Lumpur and its altitude as it headed over the south Indian Ocean, Malaysian officials added, offering no further elaboration. 
   
   The new search area presents more favorable conditions for the search than the previous area, in part because it has less inclement weather and water conditions and is closer to Perth, the departure point for the search planes, officials said. 
   
   It is also only a fifth of the size of the previous search area, though still large: 123,000 square miles, or 319,000 square kilometers, which is roughly the size of New Mexico or Poland. 
   
   But Australian and Malaysian officials cautioned that the new zone also posed considerable challenges. “We are trying to find small bits of wreckage in a vast ocean,” said Prime Minister Tony Abbott of Australia. “And while we are throwing everything we have at it, the task goes on.” 
   
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   As the search was underway on Saturday, Hishammuddin Hussein, Malaysia’s defense minister, stopped by a hotel near Kuala Lumpur to meet with the relatives of Chinese citizens who were aboard Flight 370. The Malaysian government has endured withering criticism by the relatives and friends of Chinese passengers, who have accused it of withholding information about the disappearance of the plane and not doing enough to find it. 
   
   Speaking to reporters after the closed-door meeting, Mr. Hishammuddin said the families wanted assurances that the search-and-rescue operation would continue. “As long as there is even a remote chance of a survivor, we will pray and do whatever it takes,” he said. “This is the hardest part of my life at the moment, meeting up with the families.” 
   
   The recovery of debris from Flight 370 would provide final confirmation that the plane had crashed into the ocean and offer at least partial resolution to the families and friends of the passengers and crew. It might also help solve perhaps the most enduring mystery of the plane’s disappearance: What or who caused it to veer so sharply off course? 
   
   When debris is found quickly enough after a crash into the sea, investigators can trace its drift back to the impact site and conduct an underwater search to recover the plane’s black boxes. But in the case of Flight 370, any debris, if found, might well have drifted hundreds of miles in the three weeks since the plane’s disappearance and be of limited use in locating the crash site. 
   
   Still, recovered items from the plane might allow investigators to rule in or out certain events that could have precipitated a crash. Scorch marks, for example, might indicate that there was a fire, and the nature of any fire damage could offer clues about its source. 
   
   In the case of the crash of Air France Flight 447 in 2009, the fact that the oxygen masks had not deployed and that life vests remained in their pouches indicated that those on board had not had time to prepare for an impact. Investigators also deduced from the damage that the plane hit the water at high speed, and they were able to tell which part of the plane hit the water first. 
   
   The approaching winter in the Southern Hemisphere could present serious obstacles, and some experts said that an underwater search-and-recovery mission would not be possible in the short term as weather conditions deteriorate. 
   
   But while the wreckage of the plane probably rests in cold, deep waters and is unlikely to degrade significantly in the coming months, experts said, the prospect of a delay would be hard for search experts to explain to the family members and to politicians who want to demonstrate that they are doing everything possible to find out what happened. ||||| PERTH, Australia (AP) — A day after the search for the Malaysian jetliner shifted to a new area of the Indian Ocean, ships on Saturday plucked objects from the sea to determine whether they were related to the missing jet. None were confirmed to be from the plane, leaving searchers with no sign of the jet three weeks after it disappeared. 
   
   Royal Australian Air Force Flight Lt. Russell Adams speaks to media at Pearce Airbase Saturday March 29, 2014 in Perth, Australia. Five search aircraft yesterday spotted possible debris in the new search... (Associated Press) 
   
   Australian Air Force Group Commander Craig Heap right, speaks with Royal Malaysian Air Force mission Commander Major Jafri, as a C-130 Hercules taxies behind at RAAF Base Pearce in Perth, Australia, Saturday,... (Associated Press) 
   
   In this Friday, March 28, 2014 photo released by the Australian Defence, a Royal Australian Air Force C-17 Globemaster prepares to land at RAAF Pearce Base to help with the search for the missing Malaysia... (Associated Press) 
   
   In this image made from TV, released by AMSA (Australia Maritime Safety Authority), a marker flare is deployed into the Indian Ocean from a Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) plane searching for debris... (Associated Press) 
   
   A Royal Malaysian Air Force C-130 Hercules taxies along the tarmac at RAAF Base Pearce to to help with the search for debris or wreckage of the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 in Perth, Australia,... (Associated Press) 
   
   In this Friday, March 28, 2014 photo released by the Australian Defence, a Royal Australian Air Force C-17 Globemaster arrives to help with the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 at RAAF... (Associated Press) 
   
   A photo taken off a computer monitor onboard a Royal New Zealand Air Force P-3 Orion, shows an object floating in an area within the search zone of the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 in the Southern... (Associated Press) 
   
   A man, one of the relatives of Chinese passengers onboard Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, rests near a board covered with written wishes at a hotel in Beijing, China, Saturday, March 29, 2014. Some of the... (Associated Press) 
   
   Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) pilot Flight Lt. Russell Adams speaks to the media his AP-3C Orion returned from searching for debris or wreckage of the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 in Perth,... (Associated Press) 
   
   Crew onboard a Royal Malaysian Air Force C-130 Hercules unloads the aircraft after it landed at RAAF Base Pearce to to help with the search for debris or wreckage of the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight... (Associated Press) 
   
   Meanwhile, a Chinese military plane scanning part of the search zone, which is roughly the size of Poland, spotted several objects floating in the sea, including two bearing colors of the missing jet. 
   
   It was not immediately clear whether those objects were related to the investigation into what happened to Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which disappeared March 8 en route from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing, and officials said the second day of searching in the new area ended with no evidence found of the jet. 
   
   Dozens of relatives of passengers on the missing plane were to fly from Beijing to Kuala Lumpur on Sunday to seek answers from Malaysia's government as to what happened to their loved ones. Two-thirds of the 229 passengers aboard Flight 370 were Chinese, and their relatives have expressed deep frustration with Malaysian authorities since the plane went missing. 
   
   Ships from China and Australia on Saturday scooped up items described only as "objects from the ocean," but none were "confirmed to be related" to Flight 370, said the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, which is overseeing the search. 
   
   A Chinese Ilyushin IL-76 plane spotted three floating objects, China's official Xinhua News Agency said, a day after several planes and ships combing the newly targeted area, which is closer to Australia than the previous search zone, saw several other objects. 
   
   The three objects spotted by the Chinese plane were white, red and orange in color, the Xinhua report said. The missing Boeing 777's exterior was red, white, blue and gray. 
   
   Investigators have been puzzled over what happened to Flight 370, with speculation ranging from equipment failure and a botched hijacking to terrorism or an act by one of the pilots. 
   
   The latter was fueled by reports that the pilot's home flight simulator had files deleted from it, but Malaysian Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said checks, including one by the FBI, had turned up no new information. 
   
   "What I know is that there is nothing sinister from the simulators, but of course that will have to be confirmed by the chief of police," he said. 
   
   Newly analyzed satellite data shifted the search zone on Friday, raising expectations that searchers may be closer to getting physical evidence that the plane crashed into the Indian Ocean. 
   
   That would also help narrow the hunt for the wreckage and the plane's black boxes, which could contain clues to what caused the plane to be so far off-course. 
   
   The U.S. Navy has already sent equipment that can detect pings from the back boxes, and Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott told reporters in Sydney that the equipment would be put on an Australian naval ship soon. 
   
   "It will be taken to the most prospective search area and if there is good reason to deploy it, it will be deployed," he said, without giving a time frame. Other officials have said it could take days for the ship — the Ocean Shield — to reach the search area. 
   
   The newly targeted zone is nearly 1,130 kilometers (700 miles) northeast of sites the searchers have crisscrossed for the past week. The redeployment came after analysts determined that the Boeing 777 may have been traveling faster than earlier estimates and would therefore have run out of fuel sooner. 
   
   The new search area is closer to the southwestern Australian city of Perth than the previous one, with a flying time of 2 1/2 hours each way, allowing for five hours of search time, according to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority. 
   
   Malaysia Airlines' commercial director, Hugh Dunleavy, said in Beijing late Saturday that around 40 to 45 Chinese relatives of passengers on the missing plane would fly to Kuala Lumpur early Sunday morning. 
   
   Steve Wang, a representative of some of the Chinese families in Beijing, said the relatives wanted to go to Malaysia to seek more answers because they have been unsatisfied by the responses provided by Malaysian government representatives who have met them in China. 
   
   "We have demanded that we meet with the prime minister and the transportation minister," said Wang Chunjiang, whose younger brother, lawyer Wang Chunyong, was on Flight 370. "We have questions that we would like to ask them in person." 
   
   If investigators can determine that the plane went down in the newly targeted search zone — which spans about 319,000 square kilometers (123,000 square miles) — recovery of its flight data and cockpit voice recorders could be complicated. 
   
   Much of the sea floor in the area is about 2,000 meters (6,600 feet) below the surface, but depths may reach a maximum of up to 6,000 meters (19,685 feet). 
   
   The hunt for the plane focused first on the Gulf of Thailand, along the plane's planned path. But when radar data showed it had veered sharply west, the search moved to the Andaman Sea, off the western coast of Malaysia, before pivoting to the southern Indian Ocean, southwest of Australia. 
   
   ___ 
   
   Wong reported from Kuala Lumpur. Associated Press writers Scott McDonald and Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur; Kristen Gelineau in Sydney; Rod McGuirk in Canberra, Australia; Nick Perry in Wellington, New Zealand; and Aritz Parra and Didi Tang in Beijing contributed to this report. ||||| The crucial data preserved in the so-called black boxes of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 should survive for two years or longer, even if they are submerged in the corrosive salt water of the Indian Ocean. 
   
   If the black boxes — a cockpit voice recorder that captures the last two hours of the flight, and a data recorder that captures 25 hours — are recovered, technicians can put them in desalinated water to clean out the memory boards, then vacuum-dry them. 
   
   The recorders can survive salt water immersion up to 20,000 feet, Joe Kolly, director of research and engineering for the National Transportation Safety Board, told reporters Friday. The deepest waters of the new search zone for Flight 370 are about 13,000 feet. 
   
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   The black boxes from Air France Flight 447, which crashed in the Atlantic Ocean in June 2009, were recovered almost two years later, with most of the data intact. 
   
   If the Malaysian plane did crash into the ocean, crews first have to find the black boxes. They emit sonic pings for roughly 30 days and after that would be much harder to find. Flight 370 disappeared three weeks ago. 
   
   It has not been determined which government would analyze the black boxes from Flight 370, Kolly said. His lab does a third of its work for foreign governments, he said.
target: – The search for Flight 370 in its new search zone continues to produce tantalizing sightings, but no links to the plane so far. The latest comes from a Chinese military plane that spotted three suspicious objects today with colors that were at least a rough match for those of the Malaysian jet, reports AP. Australian and Chinese ships were retrieving those and other pieces of debris as quickly as possible for analysis, but it's no easy feat. "It’s an inaccessible place," Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott told the media, reports the New York Times. "We are trying to find small bits of wreckage in a vast ocean, and while we are throwing everything we have at it, the task goes on.” NBC News, meanwhile, offers a glimmer of hope in regard to figuring out what happened: The plane's black boxes should be able to survive about two years even if submerged in salt water 20,000 feet deep, it says. The deepest part of the new search area is about 13,000 feet.