That one picture was then blended with others for the final composite image in Google Earth, which was why it appeared as if the airplane was found in the ocean. The aircraft was photographed above the water with its shadow down below.

Only one of the individual images showed the airplane, which was in flight. It's unclear which specific pictures were put together for the final composite image that appeared on Google Earth, but it likely consisted of the multiple photographs shot in October 2015.Īll of the original, individual satellite pictures that made up the composite image were available in the Google Earth app with the 'Show historical imagery' feature. The area surrounding the coordinates mentioned above had been previously captured once in June 2004, once in February 2005, once in January 2015, six times in October 2015, once in December 2015, once in April 2016, and once in September 2017. To see the same composite image in Google Maps, simply click here or copy and paste these coordinates into the maps app or Google Earth: 22.6783604,-73.8282887.

However, the picture was simply a composite of multiple satellite photographs that appeared to have been captured in 2015.Ī Google Earth Help article once noted that some of the satellite images found in the app can be 'a mosaic of multiple satellite or aerial photos taken over days or months.' It was true that the satellite image of the airplane and the ocean really did come from Google Earth.

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