The Pacific Ocean is very, very big. Airplanes are big, too—but, compared to the Pacific Ocean, they are almost comically small. So, as rescuers finish up a week of searching unsuccessfully for Malaysia Air Flight 370, it’s worth taking a second to marvel at what an impossible a task it is to find one little plane in that very big ocean.
The Washington Post is here to help. The paper just published a simple interactive feature that shows the intimidating scale rescuers have to deal with. It’s one big grid with 160,000 squares, each of which represent one square mile of ocean and land where the rescuers are searching. The plane is in the center—but you can’t see it until you zoom in about ten times. It’s insane.
The good news is that technology has made it possible for everyone to help search for the missing plane. So now that we’ve told you how impossible a task it is, give it a try! [Washington Post]
https://gizmodo.com/now-you-can-help-search-for-the-missing-malaysian-airli-1542224087
