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.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
God Rest Their Souls and Their Families . NEVER give up searching in some way . RIP
i need a map.
What a load of bull. Any part of that aircraft would be on the bottom of the ocean long before now. If it’s just now washing up on the island it was shredded and dumped recently after the passengers were murdered and the plane was stripped for parts.
What a load of bull!! What makes you such an expert? Perhaps you can now tell us were it was shredded, where and how the passengers were murdered and where we can expect the stripped parts to show up?? Also, where do we go to find all the bodies of the passengers. With all the “knowledge” you have we can only hope you will go to the relevant authorities ASAP and give them all your information. It should make interesting reading!
I agree with you David.
IT wouldn’t have done any good for the law to say report every 15 minutes to these poor souls as there is an unsolved mystery that someone caused this plane to disappear. They didn’t want this plkane found. ( Marianne)
As my memory has it The plane in Question was last spotted in a Telaviv hangar at the Airport a week or so later and had the same ID markings and serial numbers,so how in hell did the bits get widely spread over the worlds oceans.Beats Me!
No debris from passengers- that is odd!
Tons of stuff from fukushima washed up on shores of hawaii- no one reported this because radiation levels were high.
The ocean clearly would wash up something.
Even partial legs with tennis shoes washed up on west coast- the shoes made the legs float. Itshorrific but something of parts or luggage would have washed up someplace!
Dont always believe what your told-
just like benghazi happened from you tube, fast and furious was an “accident”, refugees can be vetted, GMO is good for you, and private hillery server did not jeoperdise americas secrets.
I still think that plane is sitting on the ground somewhere, to be used at a later date. It may not evev be the same color now.
Why haven’t the so called Psychics discovered what happened. A lot claim that they can talk to the departed, so how come none of them can tell us what happened?