Search for missing Malaysia jet is the 'most expensive' in aviation history

The search for missing Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 is becoming the most expensive search in aviation history, according to Reuters. The cost of the search party of ships, submarines, planes, and satellites from two dozen countries is estimated at $44 million so far — and that price tag is expected to climb into the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Reuters compiled the figure using statistics and costs reported by defense analysts and the Pentagon. The number is only based on the deployment of ships and aircraft from some of the countries participating, including China, the United States, and Vietnam, and it doesn't take into account the help provided by Britain, France, and New Zealand or the civilian aircraft used.

Perhaps the most startling revelation is that the $44 million spent so far is "about equal" to the total cost of the two-year search effort for Air France flight 44, which plunged into the Atlantic Ocean in 2009.

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