Despite "pushing their plane to its limits", an NZ Air Force plane has returned to Australia without success after helping search for objects from the missing Malaysia Airlines plane.
ONE News Australia correspondent Steve Marshall was on the plane and said there were a number of false alarms when objects were detected but closer looks did not reveal any links to the lost airliner.
It took the Orion crew four hours to reach their search zone in the southern Indian Ocean and after about three hours of intensive searching the plane then made the long flight back to base.
Marshall told TV ONE's Breakfast it was a good effort from the Kiwi team but the crew were very disappointed they couldn't firm up any sightings linked to the missing plane.
After a smooth ride out to the search area, Marshall said they dived down through the cloud and it "got rough in patches".
He said the pilot held the plane at about 100 metres above the sea for most of the search time.
The Commander of Joint Forces New Zealand says there is nothing unusual in this particular job for the NZ team. Air Vice-Marshal Kevin Short told Breakfast the crews are used to long hours searching and they use a rotation process to keep fresh.
New Zealand has supplied one aircraft and one crew and Mr Short says they are using Australia's expertise and co-ordination centre to tell them where to search.
"We have committed the aircraft and crew for as long as they are required. I suspect it will be at least a week," Mr Short said.
The NZ crew have a rest day today.
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