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Indian Ocean Debris Believed To Come From Missing Flight MH370

Posted by timothy on from the truth-will-out dept.

McGruber writes that air crash investigators, though maintaining that it is "too early to tell" with certainty, have 'a high degree of confidence' that a piece of wreckage found on the Indian Ocean island of La Reunion is from a Boeing 777 — the same model as the doomed MH370 which disappeared in March 2014. Investigators will need to examine closely the wreckage to link it to MH370, but MH370 was the only Boeing 777 ever lost over water.

7 of 89 comments (clear)

  1. A "Badly-Damaged" Suitcase has also been found by McGruber · · Score: 5, Informative

    A 'badly-damaged' suitcase has also been found in the same area: Google Translation of French-Language news report

    1. Re:A "Badly-Damaged" Suitcase has also been found by McGruber · · Score: 4, Informative

      If you open the link, scroll down to the bottom of the page -- there are three pictures posted there, underneath the video of talking-heads.

    2. Re:A "Badly-Damaged" Suitcase has also been found by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      Unfortunately a single relatively small piece of plane is not enough evidence to prove that the plane went down in the ocean

      A verified piece of a 777, barnacle encrusted (been in the ocean for months), but not weed encrusted (hasn't been there for years), given that exactly one 777 is missing in the world, would be enough evidence to show that in all statistical likelihood (beyond reasonable doubt), it is a part of the missing plane, and that it crashed in the ocean.

      Now hopefully, there will be serial numbers on this wing component which will identify it explicitly with this aircraft.

      Those who look for "100% proof" are the people that continually make up conspiracy theories. They won't be happy even with a personal submarine trip down to the plane.

  2. Re:Bad news for recovery of the black boxes by Thelasko · · Score: 4, Informative

    I imagine jet wings that are empty of fuel will float around for a while.

    Wings that are full of fuel will float too, because jet fuel has a lower density than water.

    --
    One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".
  3. Currents by Solandri · · Score: 5, Informative

    If you look at the currents in the Indian Ocean, and trace backwards from Reunion (it and Mauritius are the two dots east of Madagascar), you pass right through the area they've been searching off of Australia.

  4. Re:Bad news for recovery of the black boxes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    Wikipedia is hardly a valid document for contradicting another source. I'm a pilot with a seaplane rating. You don't land on the open ocean with the intent of taking off again. Interviews with the crew of the PBY and the ship it flew from both say the same thing; they went to be a lifeboat for as many survivors as they could.

  5. Re:Well, now we actually know several things by Richard_at_work · · Score: 3, Informative

    Auto pilot wouldn't have been able to detect the water level and who knows what it would have been trying to do with no power and a glide decent.

    In that situation, with no power, the autopilot would have automatically disconnected, there is no way the aircraft would have been under autopilot control after the fuel ran out and the RAT (ram air turbine, the emergency power system) deployed.