Investigators fear Malaysia Airlines black box may have overwritten data, complicating MH370 probe

After the revelation that Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 crashed into the southern Indian Ocean, investigators are now fearing that the black box from the plane might have overwritten key data, making it all the more difficult to gauge what exactly went wrong with the plane.

Although satellite images have helped narrow down search in the waters, an expert has warned that the black box might be 'impossible' to find.

A United States black box detector is expected to arrive on April 5, two days short before the black box's pinger runs out of battery, news.com.au reports.

According to the report, by then it would be 28 days since the plane disappeared, but there is a possibility that the weakened signal may continue for another 10 days.

Cranfield University aviation specialist David Barry said that given the remoteness of the site and the depth of the water and the weather down there, the black box would be almost impossible to find.

However, if even the black is located, it might not provide the answers that investigators are hoping for, as the plane's communication systems had been disabled in the first hour of the flight, and the black box records cockpit communication on a two hour loop and then deletes all but the last two hours.

The ill-fated Malaysia Airline Flight MH370 disappeared shortly after take off from Kuala Lumpur on March 8, and only this week it was confirmed that the plane indeed crashed into the southern Indian Ocean with 239 people onboard.