MH 370 Private Search's Estimated $234 Million Dollar Cost

This figure has recently been determined, as five underwater drone search missions have yet to find any remnants of the plane. Drone owner and operator Phoenix International Holdings stated, "...there has been no debris or aircraft wreckage discovered".

Technical and water depth issues hindered this week's location efforts. It takes the underwater tool two hours to reach the ocean's bottom and another two hours to return above waters. It takes an additional 16 hours to extract ocean floor data, with another four hours allotted for analysis.

The vessel can travel up to 4,500 meters in depth, while the U.S. Navy confirmed that the search area contains a depth of 4,600 meters. However, the drone can be reprogrammed to operate at 5,000 meters. Additional challenges have plagued MH 370's quest attempts, including the expiration of locator batteries, harsh weather conditions and suspected false debris, oil and black box evidence.