Missing MH370: Possible Boeing 777 Part Found Off Mozambique, Sources Say

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Missing MH370: Possible Boeing 777 Part Found Off Mozambique, Sources Say

by TOM COSTELLO and ALASTAIR JAMIESON

An object that could be debris from a Boeing 777 has been found off Mozambique and is being examined by investigators searching for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, sources told NBC News.

Early photographic analysis of the object suggests it could have come from the doomed jet, which vanished almost exactly 2 years ago.

It was found on a sandbank in the Mozambique Channel — the body of water between Mozambique in eastern Africa and Madagascar — and in the same corner of the southern Indian Ocean where the only confirmed piece of debris, a flaperon, was found last July.

Full story: http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/missing-jet/missing-mh370-possible-boeing-777-part-found-mozambique-sources-say-n530066

[Jonathan Fairfield]

MH370: Likely piece of doomed plane found

(CNN)A piece of wreckage from a Boeing 777 -- likely from MH370 -- was found washed ashore over the weekend on the coast of Mozambique, a U.S. official told CNN on Wednesday.

The newly discovered debris is on its way to Malaysia for further examination. The wreckage is a piece of horizontal stabilizer skin, the U.S. official said.

A second aviation source says there is no record of any Boeing 777 missing other than Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which disappeared on March 8, 2014, with 239 people on board.

But Malaysia Airlines called the identification "speculative."

Full story: http://edition.cnn.com/2016/03/02/us/mh370-possible-debris-found/index.html

-- CNN 2016-03-02

[surangw]

all major aircraft parts have serial numbers that can be easily traced to the maintenance records, so any guessing could be cleared up quickly ( unless some gov. officials are holding things up)

[NeverSure]

I don't know if just a "piece" of horizontal stabilizer skin would have an ID on it. I hope so.

That part is the small wing-shaped part that's part of the tail. Like the wings but much smaller.

[NCC1701A]

"A plane part measuring 35 inches by 22 inches was discovered by an American tourist, Blaine Gibson, and a local fisherman on a sandbank in Mozambique, an aviation official tells CNN. The discovery was reported to officials Monday, and the tourist has handed over his find to Mozambique authorities, officials said. There is no immediate indication as to whether it came from MH370, the Malaysia Airlines jet that went missing two years ago."

[webfact]

US official: Debris from same type of plane as MH370
By JOAN LOWY

WASHINGTON (AP) — Debris that washed up in Mozambique has been tentatively identified as a part from the same type of aircraft as the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, a U.S. official said Wednesday.

Photos of the debris discovered over the weekend appear to show the fixed leading edge of the right-hand tail section of a Boeing 777, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly. MH-370, which disappeared two years ago with 239 people aboard, is the only known missing 777.

People who have handled the part, called a horizontal stabilizer, say it appears to be made of fiberglass composite on the outside, with aluminum honeycombing on the inside, the official said. The part is being transported to Malaysia.

Malaysian transport minister Liow Tiong Lai also confirmed in tweets about the discovery that it appears the debris may come from the missing plane.

"Based on early reports, high possibility debris found in Mozambique belongs to a B777," Liow said in a series of tweets.

"It is yet to be confirmed & verified. @dca_malaysia working w Australian counterparts to retrieve the debris." He also urged "everyone to avoid undue speculation as we are not able to conclude that the debris belongs to #mh370 at this time."

MH-370 disappeared on March 8, 2014 while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 12 crew members and 227 passengers on board.

Radar data show the plane turned sharply around as it approached Vietnamese airspace, and then flew back across the Malay Peninsula until contact was lost off the coast of Thailand.

Authorities who scrutinized data exchanged between the plane's engine and a satellite determined that the jetliner continued on a straight path across the Indian Ocean, leading them to believe that the plane flew on autopilot for hours before running out of fuel and crashing into the water

Despite an exhaustive search of the ocean west of Australia, where the plane is believed to have crashed, the only confirmed trace of the aircraft has been a wing part known as flaperon that washed ashore last July on the French island of Reunion off the east coast of Africa — about 2,300 miles from the current search area.

The flaperon bore a stenciled internal marking "657 BB," which is consistent with a flaperon from a Boeing 777.

Nothing of the passengers, their luggage or even things designed to float, such as life jackets, has been discovered despite the largest and most expensive search in aviation history.

Australia has led the multinational search effort, which also includes the Malaysian and Chinese governments.

Authorities have long predicted that any debris from the plane that isn't on the ocean floor would eventually be carried by currents to the east coast of Africa.

With authorities unable to find the plane and its "black box" flight data and cockpit voice recorders, investigators are no closer than they were two years ago to discovering the cause MH370's disappearance. There are many theories, including that a rogue pilot deliberately caused the $250 million jet to vanish, but little hard evidence.

With the search tentatively scheduled to wrap up later this year, MH370 may become one of aviation's great unsolved mysteries.

In the aftermath of the plane's disappearance, the airline industry and aviation authorities around the world pledged to find ways to better track airliners, especially over expanses of ocean where there's no radar coverage.

The International Civil Aviation Organization, a U.N. aviation-standards agency, has adopted a requirement that all airliners report their positions about every 15 minutes over open ocean. The standard goes into effect in November 2018.

Currently, pilots flying planes over open ocean report their positions about every 30 minutes. In the most remote areas, even that is not possible.

Complicating the search for MH-370, the plane's "black box" data recorder was equipped with an underwater locator beacon whose battery is designed to last only 30 days. ICAO had adopted a new standard before the accident requiring the beacons to last at least 90 days, but the standard doesn't go into effect until 2018.
___

AP writer Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur and Emmanuel Camillo in Maputo, Mozambique, contributed to this report.


-- (c) Associated Press 2016-03-03

[SOTIRIOS]

...perpetuating the tale......