Last week I first posted about an aircraft part being found on Reunion Island, which is off the coast of Madagascar.
Understandably there was quickly speculation that it might be from MH370, which has been missing since early 2014.
https://twitter.com/_esaliba/status/626418277607206912/photo/1
Within a few days the assumption was that it was in fact from MH370. It seemed to match the profile of a 777, and there have only ever been four 777 accidents — the Asiana one that crashed at San Francisco Airport, the British Airways one which crashed just short of the runway at London Heathrow Airport (everyone survived, thanks to the amazing work of the pilots), the Malaysia one which was shot down, and then MH370.
In other words, if there’s a part that’s missing and confirmed to be part of a 777, it’s safe to assume that it’s from MH370.
Anyway, the prime minister of Malaysia has now confirmed that the missing flaperon which was found on Reunion Island was indeed part of MH370. Via CNN:
On Wednesday investigators met at a specialized laboratory in near Toulouse, France, to begin examining the part. Their work took hours and the Razak made the announcement very early Thursday morning Kuala Lumpur time, 515 days since the Kuala Lumpur-to-Beijing flight disappeared with 239 people aboard.
The part is known as a flaperon. It would be the first piece of physical evidence recovered from the Malaysian jetliner.
This is certainly progress, though ultimately is only the beginning of what will likely be a very long search effort. Conceivably the flaperon could have traveled thousands of miles from where the plane went down, so it could still be a very long time before the rest of the plane is found.
On the plus side, at least it hopefully starts to give the friends & family of the victims some sense of closure, and also shuts up the conspiracy theorists who are convinced the plane never crashed. And at least it means the search efforts are being done in the right ocean.
It would be helpful to see a diagram of where the flaperon is located on the wing. I have never seen this in any of the reporting on this find.
Why did they send it to toulouse if its a boeing
@Rich - LOL!
Actually, it hasn't been confirmed yet.
The French investigators went to pains to say they have NOT yet conclusively determined so. The Malaysian PM front ran the French investigator report by 20 minutes, presumably to try and appear in control due to a spiraling domestic scandal involving him being accused of stealing/receiving from a "donor" a massive sum of cash. He got enough news outlets/blogs like this one to just immediately repeat his announcement ad...
Actually, it hasn't been confirmed yet.
The French investigators went to pains to say they have NOT yet conclusively determined so. The Malaysian PM front ran the French investigator report by 20 minutes, presumably to try and appear in control due to a spiraling domestic scandal involving him being accused of stealing/receiving from a "donor" a massive sum of cash. He got enough news outlets/blogs like this one to just immediately repeat his announcement ad hominem - without waiting for the French - which was presumably the purpose of his 2am "announcement" to begin with. Anyway, point is this post is just inaccurate.
True, it seems very, very likely the flaperon is from mh370. But it still has not been officially confirmed and what's worse, the families of the victims will get to go through this media "confirmation" chirade in another week once the French authorities actually confirm it.
Just to be a little fussy about terminology ... This isn't a missing flaperon. The *rest* of the plane is missing. This flaperon is found.
Interesting in the NY Times article (which was some good aviation sources), Boeing and American officials seem to be hesitant. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/06/world/asia/mh370-wing-reunion.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=photo-spot-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news
U can never shut up the conspiracy nuts. For them this is just more evidence of some bizarre cover-up by the lizard men that rule the world
The conspiracy theorists will just say that this piece is planted evidence by the people who really took the plane.
I wonder if we will ever know what happened.
At least, as you said, it might help friends and families of the victims find some sense of closure. I can't imagine though how hard it must be to not know more.