An Australian Orion aircraft has identified sevreal orange objects in the southern Indian in the search for flight MH370.

THE last words from the cockpit of MH370 before it disappeared from civilian radar were actually “Good night, Malaysian three seven zero”, not “all right, good night” as Malaysian authorities had previously claimed.

The sign off is much more formal than that of the informal words said to have been used earlier.

The words were said as the plane left Malaysian airspace and was about to enter that of Vietnam at 1.19am on March 8.

The Malaysia Airlines plane then turned around, flew back over Malaysia and disappeared over the southern Indian Ocean, off Perth.

Previously authorities had said the final words, possibly said by the co-pilot, were

But Malaysia’s Defence and acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, clarified this via Twitter.

He tweeted the correct words from the cockpit after being repeatedly asked to clarify confusion at an earlier press conference.

But it is not clear whether the sign off was said by the pilot or co-pilot.

Mr Hussein said authorities are currently conducting forensic investigations to determine whether it was pilot Capt Zahari Ahmad Shah or the co-pilot who said them.

And he said the full transcript of the final conversations between the cockpit of MH370 and air traffic controllers would be released to relatives families at the next briefing.

Monday proved to be another disappointing day in the search. Orange objects spotted by a plane searching for the missing Malaysia Airlines jet turned out to be nothing more than fishing equipment.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority said the objects had been analysed and spokesman Jesse Platts said “they have nothing to do with the missing flight.’’

An Australian P-3 Orion search plane spotted at least four orange objects in waters west of Perth on Sunday and were described by Orion pilot Russell Adams as the most promising lead in the search so far.

But despite yet another false alarm, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the search will not be scaled down.

“I’m certainly not putting a time limit on it ... We can keep searching for quite some time to come,’’ Mr Abbott told reporters today at RAAF Pearce, the Perth military base coordinating the operation.

“We owe it to the families, we owe it to everyone that travels by air, we owe it to the anxious governments of the countries who had people on that aircraft. We owe it to the wider world which has been transfixed by this mystery for three weeks now.’’

Prime Minister Najib Razak will travel to Perth on Wednesday to visit the Pearce airbase and see the MH370 search operations first hand and thank the search teams.

Malaysia’s Defence and acting Transport Minister, Hishammuddin Hussein, said Chinese families who have flown to Kuala Lumpur will be given a high-level briefing from international experts about the search for the plane. This will be broadcast live to families in Beijing as well.

He said the authorities understood that many families of those on board want to see the physical evidence before they accept that MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean.

News_Image_File: In their thoughts ... a volunteer from an NGO called Malaysians For Malaysia gets ready to release balloons as a symbol of remembrance for the victims of the ill-fated flight MH370.

Mr Hussein would not be drawn on the words or the details of the recording of the conversation with Malaysian air traffic control, saying it was part of the investigation.

However he said of the transcript: “I don’t think it is going to show anything sinister.”

The Australian vessel with the job of finding MH370 conducted sea trials of hi-tech detection equipment today before its 1850km journey to a tract of the southern Indian Ocean west of Perth.

The trials included a US Navy black box detector, an unmanned underwater vehicle and other acoustic detection equipment.

While the support vessel Ocean Shield is expected to take up to four days to reach the huge, 319,000 square kilometre search zone, another navy ship, the frigate HMAS Toowoomba, at top speed reached the area by midmorning today after two days at sea.

Malaysian Guided Missile Frigate KD Lekiu arrived at HMAS Stirling this evening to receive briefings on the MH370 search operations west of Perth.

News_Image_File: A P3 Orion helping in the search.

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It’s a race against time, given the box’s low-frequency acoustic beacon has a limited battery life. That has extended from an estimated 30 days to roughly 45 days, according to Captain Mark Matthews, a US Navy equipment specialist.

“These are rated to last 30 days, but that is a minimum. In my experience, they do last a little bit longer than that,’’ Capt Matthews said yesterday.

But the operation remained an extraordinarily difficult exercise, Mr Abbott said.

“We are searching a vast area of ocean and working with quite limited information,’’ he said after touring the Pearce base, where search planes from seven nations are being deployed, involving 550 personnel.

Defence Minister David Johnston said about 1000 sailors were looking for debris at sea — but the task was still onerous.

While each country involved was currently bearing its own costs, Australia was paying for running the co-ordination centre, which will have about 20 staff and be led by retired air chief marshall Angus Houston from Perth CBD headquarters.

Mr Abbott also said his Malaysian counterpart was not too hasty in announcing last week — before any debris had been recovered or confirmed as being from MH370 — that the plane was lost in the southern Indian Ocean and all on board were assumed dead.

“That’s the absolute overwhelming weight of evidence and I think that Prime Minister Najib Razak was perfectly entitled to come to that conclusion,’’ he said.

News_Module: NND MultiPromo MH320 Nav Slider

In China, home to 153 people on board the flight, a comment piece in the China Daily newspaper called for “rationality’’ among relatives — some of whom insist their loved ones could still be alive.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority said four planes were currently in the search area with another six en route.

Speaking alongside newly appointed search co-ordinator Angus Houston, Mr Abbott praised the work of those searching for MH370 during a tour of the base, saying the “best brains in the world” are on the task.

But he admitted until any wreckage is found, authorities will have to keep relying on “guesstimates”.

“All of the technological mastery that we have is being applied ... so if this mystery is solvable, we will solve it,” the Prime Minister told reporters.

“But I don’t want to underestimate just how difficult it is.”

Mr Abbott said it was “tremendous” to see such international cooperation.

“We have regular military cooperation with the United States, with New Zealand and with Malaysia, but to see also the cooperation with us from China, from Japan and from Korea is really heartening,” he said.

“It demonstrates that in a humanitarian cause, the nations of this region can come together to work for the betterment of humanity, can work to try to resolve this extraordinary mystery, can work to try to bring peace and closure to the families of the 239 people on board that ill-fated aircraft.”

News_Image_File: Committed ... Angus Houston and Tony Abbott front the media in Perth.

Despite three weeks passing, Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss insisted momentum is building with more ships being added each day.

“It’s a priority for us to try and recover the black box recorder of this aircraft as soon as possible,” Mr Truss said.

Mr Houston expressed how delighted he was to coordinate the search effort.

“I will be coordinating with my people at the international level, at the national level and of course most importantly, with the families,” he said.

But the retired Air Chief Marshal insisted he wasn’t running the search.

“I will obviously be focused very much on coordination ... I’m not here to do the detailed operational stuff that is being taken care of very professionally by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority and the Defence Force,” he said.

News_Image_File: Ready for action ... an underwater search-surveying vehicle.

Mr Abbott said Australia is bearing the cost of running the coordination centre.

Earlier, it was revealed that crew on board an Australian Orion aircraft located the several objects, greater than two metres in size, in a five nautical mile area within the huge search zone where the Malaysia Airlines plane is thought to have gone down.

Flight Lieutenant Russell Adams said last night: “I must stress that we can’t confirm the origin of these objects ... the details of these, in association with a GPS buoy have been passed on to our rescue coordination centre.”

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Photos of the objects were assessed to determine whether they were related to the missing airliner, which was carrying 239 people when it disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing more than three weeks ago.

If authorities found the debris were from MH370, a ship would have been be sent to the location.

Adams said he was hopeful of finding more objects if favourable weather conditions continued.

News_Image_File: Promising lead ... RAAF Flight Lieutenant Russell Adams.

“For my crew and from our perspective, this was the most visibility we [have] had in the water of any objects ... and gave us the most promising leads,” he said.

Other planes and ships working the new search zone 1800km west of Perth failed yesterday to turn up any signs of the wreckage. Some items hauled aboard the Chinese vessel Haixun 01 and Australia’s HMAS Success on Friday turned out to be sea junk.

The search shifted 1100km north last week after calculations by international aviation experts working in Malaysia, who estimate based on radar data that MH370 flew faster and burned more fuel than previously thought.

In the absence of any other significant leads, the search not only presses on, it has intensified.

A total of 10 aircraft will be involved in the search effort today.

News_Image_File: Search aid ... an underwater search-surveying vehicle in Perth.

“The Chinese Ilyushin IL-76 aircraft is scheduled to depart about 9am,” AMSA said in an update. “The US Navy P8 Poseidon and RNZAF P3 Orion are scheduled to depart about 11am. The Republic of Korea P3 Orion is scheduled to depart about 11.30am.”

Ten ships will also be assisting, including HMAS Success and HMAS Toowoomba.

The naval support vessel Ocean Shield is set to steam from Garden Island off Perth for the search area, loaded with a towable pinger locator which is hoped may locate the plane’s black box before its batteries expire in around seven days.

The ship also took aboard an autonomous underwater vehicle, or AUV, which will be programmed to search in patterns at depths between 2000m and 4000m.

Captain Mark Matthews from the US Navy warned it took two years to locate the wreckage from the 2009 Air France disaster, even though they knew the approximate location where it went down.

News_Image_File: Prayers ... a candle light vigil in Kuala Lumpur.

As the search continues, some 30 Chinese implacable family members of passengers on board MH370 arrived in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

They unfurled red and white banners in protest at what they claim is a lack of transparency and the truth from Malaysia.

“We want evidence, we want the truth, we want our family back,” angry Chinese relatives chanted at an impromptu protest in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

“Hand us the murderer. Tell us the truth. Give us our relatives back,” one banner read. “You must return relatives of MH370. No strings attached.”

The group’s spokesman, who gave his name as Mr Kong, said the briefings in Beijing provided by government officials were insufficient and they wanted to meet with Malaysian officials, Boeing, the airline and the Inmarsat satellite company.

“The announcement that the plane crashed into the southern Indian Ocean was just based on speculation,” Mr Kong said.

News_Image_File: Demanding answers ... Chinese relatives with protest banners.

Malaysia Airlines said would make arrangements to fly family members to Perth, once wreckage was confirmed. It said an assistance centre would be established and families would be taken to view any of the plane’s wreckage.

Mr Abbott has appointed former Defence chief Angus Houston to co-ordinate Australia’s search, which now involves ships and planes from seven nations after Malaysia finally joined the efforts.

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“Should our responsibilities increase as time goes by, there is no one better placed than Angus to co-ordinate and liaise given the quite significant number of countries that have a stake in this search,” Mr Abbott said.

“This government won’t rest to give those families and the wider community of the world a little more peace and insight into exactly what happened.”

News_Image_File: Pray for MH370 ... messages of support in Beijing.

Meanwhile, grieving mother Danica Weeks said she was “sickened” by a text message from Malaysia Airlines saying that her husband, Paul, a New Zealand resident of Perth, was dead.

“Sickened that someone would actually send me a text message to say that my loved one was dead,” she told 60 Minutes last night. “It’s my husband, my loving husband, the father of my children and you send me a text message.”

Ms Weeks said she felt for her children, Lincoln, 3, and Jack, 11 months, who would grow up without the father they reminded her so much of.

“Lincoln, it’s just his personality and Jack is just the splitting image of him,” she said.

News_Image_File: Immeasurable loss ... Danica Weeks with Lincoln, 3 and Jack, 11 months.

Flight MH370 left its scheduled course in the early hours of March 8 in the Gulf of Thailand en route to Beijing.

It is believed based on Malaysian radar data and from calculations made by British satellite provider Inmarsat that the flight turned south and flew for between six to eight hours into the Indian Ocean.

It now appears the Indian Ocean is strewn with garbage, misleading analysts who thought they were studying satellite images of possible debris fields from the jet.

One of Australia’s RAAF Orion P3s was diverted to fly 648km north of the Antarctic mainland to investigate an emergency distress beacon activated by a Tanzanian-registered fishing vessel.

AMSA, which also sent a civilian jet out of Melbourne to assist, was unable to establish communications with the vessel, which was in a location of extreme bad weather.

It said debris was spotted in the location and there were now grave fears for the crew’s safety.

News_Image_File: False lead ... an object floats in the southern Indian Ocean.