If the military were to commit their satellite analysis resources to this I'm sure they could cover the entire search area fairly quickly. But has DoD committed those resources? I doubt it, they're busy looking for other higher priority targets elsewhere.

I think the point is that so far CAP has failed to find SF. Now folks are trying to think out of the box and attempting what many (including me) would consider low probability search techniques. But it's only a low probability at the individual level. Put 1000 sets of eyes looking at the search area and the probability increases. The issue I have with this is I/we have a limited idea of what that wreck looks like in that imagery. I doubt it resembles an aircraft sitting at an airport. That, and we really don't know if the aircraft is in the new imagery that mechanical turk has available. It may have crashed outside that geographic area.

Chris,
Any thoughts on the Mechanical Turk/Google Earth effort?

The same link for the imagery search is on the official Steve Fossett website.

http://www.stevefossett.com/index.html

But I do agree that it is rather a pointless exercise,

an example would be at 38.597042,-119.467755

Looks like a debris field approx 100 yards, White specks formed in a chevron on speckled blackened earth,

very difficult to tell without higher resolution.

I came across the Mechanical Turk/Google Earth effort this morning, and called my young children to come and take a look. We talked about some basic SAR issues, and then sifted through 100 quadrants together, talking about what we were seeing. Two of them had some slightly unusual reflectance features, and so we duly tagged them so someone more expert could take a glance. It would be fascinating to have a sense as to how many people did something similar, and to know how many quadrants were examined collectively.

Christopher,

Hey new guy, welcome to the fire! You'll find we are a (mostly) friendly group.

I like how you involved your kids with the search. It'll help them realize just how hard it is to spot someone/something. From there a number of lessons could grow...

-Blast

Boater,

Thank you for the link. It's nice to see someone provide a tool through which some form of assistance (however slim the chance of success may be) can be provided to the search effort. This certainly is more in the spirit of the forum, and this site, than some of the utterly useless, unwarranted criticism that was proffered on this thread following your posting.

What exactly does this mean - in order to sign in and search, you must sign an agreement. The sign-in agreement for the Mechanical Turk says it can debit my bank account??

BY REGISTERING FOR AND USING THE SITE, YOU CERTIFY THAT (1) YOU ARE AT LEAST 18 YEARS OLD;
(2) YOU HAVE THE AUTHORITY TO ENTER INTO THIS AGREEMENT AND BIND YOURSELF OR THE COMPANY
YOU REPRESENT; **(3) YOU AUTHORIZE THE ELECTRONIC TRANSFER OF FUNDS, AND IF YOU REQUEST
SERVICES, FOR AMAZON MECHANICAL TURK TO DEBIT YOUR BANK ACCOUNT IN ACCORDANCE
WITH SECTION 4 OF THIS PARTICIPATION AGREEMENT;** AND (4) YOU AGREE TO BE BOUND
BY ALL TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THIS AGREEMENT, INCLUDING THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS
OF THE PAYMENT SERVICE DESCRIBED IN SECTION 4 AND ALL APPLICABLE POLICIES,
PROCEDURES AND GUIDELINES.

Participants in this thread will notice some deletions and editing of comments that breached the forum rules ( easilly located without satellite technology.) My opinion on this online effort? For what it is worth, I worry about online transactions ever since battling PAYPAL As to the value? Photo interpretation is a learned skill. In my vocation as archaeologist I can see subtle clues laymen miss ion photographs and onsite. Meanwhile I may very well be stomping on some endangered butterfly crysalis It has a social feedback of involving people and may very well raise interest in our avocation at ETS. Just remember the Mars Image of a carved face that had the Woo Woo crowd excited. I am suprised that same 'woo woo' crowd hasn't started any conspiracy theories of Area 51 and a newly discovered triangle ( hint, it's called NEVADA.)Whatever the outcome, this unfortunate loss is a reminder. For all of our advances since Antoine de Saint-Exupery wrote Wind,Sand and Stars, Mother Nature is still neutral as Mors Kochanski reminds us.

I apologize.

Sorry Chris, didn't realize I'd crossed the line. Thanks for fixing it.