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Debris Found on Réunion Examined for Links to Malaysia Airlines Plane Debris Examined for Links to Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
(about 1 hour later)
PARIS — A large object that appeared to be an airplane part washed up Wednesday on the shore of Réunion, a French island in the Indian Ocean, prompting speculation that it might be debris from Flight 370, the Malaysia Airlines jetliner that disappeared in March 2014.PARIS — A large object that appeared to be an airplane part washed up Wednesday on the shore of Réunion, a French island in the Indian Ocean, prompting speculation that it might be debris from Flight 370, the Malaysia Airlines jetliner that disappeared in March 2014.
A French official with knowledge of the investigation said that the object appeared to be a wing flap, possibly from a Boeing 777, the type of aircraft used on the flight. The official said that the object was about 9 feet long and 3 feet wide, and that it appeared to have been in the water for a very long time.A French official with knowledge of the investigation said that the object appeared to be a wing flap, possibly from a Boeing 777, the type of aircraft used on the flight. The official said that the object was about 9 feet long and 3 feet wide, and that it appeared to have been in the water for a very long time.
The French aviation safety authorities have begun an investigation, the official said, adding that they were in the process of designating a laboratory in France where the object would be taken for examination. The process of pinning down exactly which plane the object came from will probably take several weeks, the official said. The French aviation safety bureau, known as BEA, said in a statement on Wednesday that it “is studying the information on the airplane part found in La Réunion, in coordination with our Malaysian and Australian colleagues and with the judicial authorities.” It added that “it is not possible at this hour to ascertain whether the part is from a B-777 and/or from MH370.”
A police official at gendarmerie headquarters near Paris, said that “right now, we have no elements that would enable us to confirm or disconfirm that this debris is from the Malaysia Airlines flight.” The French official said that the authorities were in the process of designating a laboratory in France where the object would be taken for examination, and that pinning down exactly which plane the object came from may take several weeks.
Both officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
Agence France-Presse reported that the object was found by people cleaning a beach, and cited a witness who said it was partly encrusted with shells and appeared weathered.Agence France-Presse reported that the object was found by people cleaning a beach, and cited a witness who said it was partly encrusted with shells and appeared weathered.
The French official said that while the find was being taken seriously, Réunion’s distance from the last detected location of Flight 370 — more than 3,000 miles — made it unlikely that debris from the plane would turn up there. Even so, aviation experts who viewed published photos of the object said it strongly resembled a part of a modern jetliner wing known as a flaperon, one of the control surfaces that pilots use to guide the aircraft in flight.
Flight 370, a Boeing 777 with 239 people on board, veered off its planned route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing and stopped communicating with ground controllers shortly after midnight on March 8, 2014. It flew westward across the Malay Peninsula and then southward over the Indian Ocean, and it is presumed to have crashed there in very deep water, killing everyone aboard. Months of extensive air and sea search efforts have so far failed to find any trace of the aircraft. Peter Goelz, a former managing director of the National Transportation Safety Board, said it seemed clear from the photos that the object “is a wing flap, and it’s about the right size.”
Xavier Tytelman, a former pilot who writes about aviation security, said in a blog post that, judging from photos of the object, it seemed to resemble a part of a Boeing 777 wing known as a flaperon, one of the control surfaces pilots use to guide the aircraft in flight. Whether it came from a 777 was another matter.
Mr. Tytelman also noted a reference number that was reportedly seen on the piece of wreckage — BB670 — that he speculated would be helpful in identifying the part. “These structures all look somewhat similar, and they are all actuated similarly, so have similar attachment methods, points and geometry,” said Robert W. Mann, an aviation expert in Port Washington, N.Y. “The key would be, what is the serial number etched to the part?” That number would determine which plane it came from, Mr. Mann said.
Boeing told Agence France-Presse in a statement that it remained “committed to supporting the MH370 investigation and the search for the airplane,” but it did not comment specifically on the found object. Noting that investigators should be able to tell quickly whether the object came from a 777, Richard L. Aboulafia, an analyst at the Teal Group in Fairfax, Va., said that “if that happens, there is only one possibility.”
Erik van Sebille, an oceanographer specializing in ocean currents who did extensive computer simulations last year of where Flight 370 wreckage might float, said that it was possible that some pieces might now be reaching Réunion, more than 3,000 miles from the plane’s last known location.
But the plane would have had to enter the water off northwestern Australia, he said. A series of separate analyses of the satellite “pings” coming from the aircraft’s engines in its last hours of flight have all pointed to its coming down off southwestern Australia, many hundreds of miles farther south — and that is where investigators from Australia, Malaysia and China have concentrated their search efforts.
Currents in the Indian Ocean move fairly quickly from east to west near the Equator, Mr. van Sebille said, but those to the south move more slowly. Debris entering the ocean in the primary search area would be much less likely to have drifted as far as Réunion by now.
Even if the object did come from Flight 370, he said, that does not necessarily mean that any other parts of the plane would be found nearby. “The way the ocean works is like a huge pinball machine,” and the plane’s wreckage “could be spread across an enormous area,” Mr. van Sebille said.
Flight 370, with 239 people on board, veered off its planned route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing and stopped communicating with ground controllers shortly after midnight on March 8, 2014. It flew westward across the Malay Peninsula and then southward over the Indian Ocean, and it is presumed to have crashed there in very deep water, killing everyone aboard. Months of extensive air and sea search efforts have so far failed to find any trace of the aircraft.
Boeing said in a statement that it remained “committed to supporting the MH370 investigation and the search for the airplane” and would share its technical expertise with safety investigators, but it declined to comment specifically on the Réunion object, referring questions to the investigators.