MH370 found?

[motormouser]

Possible fragments of an airframe found off the coast of Africa. Could be from missing Malaysia Airlines ‪#‎MH370

https://www.facebook.com/UKAerospace/photos/pcb.789889694464546/789889384464577/?type=1

We'll have to await further news.

[motormouser]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/malaysia/11771229/MH370-wreckage-found-on-Reunion-matches-Malaysia-Airlines-flight.html

[ericbee123]

Not a million miles from the red lines.



Especially if the plane could have been anywhere on that line which is partially red, if you extend the red to further towards Madagascar, I think that's quite close, just been searching nearer to the Australia end of that 40 Degree line.

http://www.wired.com/2014/03/mh370-doppler-rescue/

[RRconway]

Looks credible. If the data plate is still attached I would imagine they can trace it through MASs maintenance records.
However, if it's been drifting all this time it will of course be many miles from where it entered the Ocean, but I seem to recall it is possible to back trace current patterns back nowadays?

[FGR2]

A recently found ex-mil aircraft panel, was traced back to an individual airframe, so I would think that it should be relatively easy to find out which individual aircraft this is from.

[WG655]

More and more sources seeming to suggest this is a 777 component - given MH370 is the only 777 hull loss over water this could well be a part of it we're looking at.

[JBartlett]

I wonder if they been looking in the wrong place all this time ? Someone came up with the theory they passed out like the Helios Airways Flight 522 and could off just flown till they ran out of fuel, though wonder how far that has travelled from the tide.

James

[andygolfer]

I wonder if they been looking in the wrong place all this time ? Someone came up with the theory they passed out like the Helios Airways Flight 522 and could off just flown till they ran out of fuel, though wonder how far that has travelled from the tide.

James

wrong place - not exactly, this wreckage (if it is from MH370) has been drifting for 16 months so is unlikely to be anywhere near the impact point. The authorities are probably looking in the right area (which is very large) but not exactly the right place otherwise they would have found it.

Helios theory - no, the Helios just went in a straight line from the initial loss of contact with the crew. MH370 did several controlled manoeuvres (thank goodness for spellcheck) before loss of radar contact something which an aircraft without any person in control would not have done, the initial turns had to be deliberate. How long the crew or at least the person who initiated those turns was in control is still unknown, i.e. did he/she stay concious until the impact or lose conciousness some time between the last turn (southwards)and the point of impact.

One question which nobody knows the answer to is 'which of the pilots was alone in the cockpit?' If the one who was alone and started the turns wanted to remain unidentified then he would not want to be found dead in the cockpit. So (and this is only speculation) he puts on his emergency oxygen supply and de-pressurises the aircraft thus asphyxiating all on board except himself. Carries out the turns to get onto the southern heading and then leaves the cockpit and goes into the cabin where he quietly dies as the aircraft flies on automatically and nobody would know who was last out of the cockpit and the culprit remains unidentified.

[Brevet Cable]

The topic title is extremely misleading and inaccurate.......one flaperon is not an aircraft.

[andygolfer]

The topic title is extremely misleading and inaccurate.......one flaperon is not an aircraft.

but is it followed by a question mark thus raising doubts as to IF it is actually from MH370. Hopefully the question mark can be removed soon if it is confirmed as being from the doomed flight.

lots of discussion on PPrune this morning (and last night), some quite educated and some more speculative: http://www.pprune.org/rumours-news/5653 ... and-4.html (post no.75 does concur quite accurately with your point though Clive)

[Thumper]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-33714780

If it does turn out to be from MH370, would it make finding the rest of the wreckage any easier? As someone mentioned, it's been 16 months now and if at sea that could be a lot of drift time but we obviously don't know if the aircraft broke up into lots of small pieces (easier to drift) or not. I do hope it is found soon though, it must be horrible for the relatives of those lost to keep seeing news headlines like this, no closure whatsoever.

[andygolfer]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-33714780

If it does turn out to be from MH370, would it make finding the rest of the wreckage any easier? As someone mentioned, it's been 16 months now and if at sea that could be a lot of drift time but we obviously don't know if the aircraft broke up into lots of small pieces (easier to drift) or not. I do hope it is found soon though, it must be horrible for the relatives of those lost to keep seeing news headlines like this, no closure whatsoever.

I wouldn't think it would make it any harder. There are all sorts of charts showing ocean currents and drift (see the pprune link above) and it should help give some indication as to the origin although it's still a very large area. It's more information than they had 24 hours ago so it can only help (unless it's fallen off another totally different aircraft but they should know that fairly quickly).

At best it might tell the searchers whether it's likely to be at the northern or southern end of the search area so they know where to concentrate more. Having said that it's like looking for a needle in a very large haystack and all this may do is tell them which haystack to look in. Hopefully a few more bits might show up before long to help tracking back along the route then it might be a lot easier for them.

[andygolfer]

again from PPrune (and this time I've pasted it as the post no I quoted previously re Brevet's question was edited away so 75 does not make sense now sorry, a lesson always paste what I'm quoting rather than a link):

airlive.net

UPDATE 08:50UTC A suitcase has been found in the same place that debris was found

this latest bit does seem strange so soon after the other, I would think a suitcase would have a very different density and drifting characteristic to a flapathon (or what ever it's called) so wouldn't expect both in the same place after 16 months unless of course the wreckage is actually quite nearby despite all the evidence to the contrary and it has started breaking up (why now?). just conjecture on my part though. Next few days will be interesting with or without further debris.

[Brevet Cable]

The topic title is extremely misleading and inaccurate.......one flaperon is not an aircraft.

but is it followed by a question mark thus raising doubts as to IF it is actually from MH370.

Then the title should surely read 'Debris from MH370 found?'

[Brevet Cable]

I would think a suitcase would have a very different density and drifting characteristic to a flapathon (or what ever it's called) so wouldn't expect both in the same place after 16 months

Not really.Despite the differences in buoyancy , etc. , it's quite feasible for debris to wash up in the same area or along the same section of coastline. They don't necessarily have to have washed ashore at the same time.

[andygolfer]

The topic title is extremely misleading and inaccurate.......one flaperon is not an aircraft.

but is it followed by a question mark thus raising doubts as to IF it is actually from MH370.

Then the title should surely read 'Debris from MH370 found?'

yes Brevet, that would probably be the perfect title at this stage and was what I was alluding to with my subsequent post re. the Pprune topic which was along those lines but for some reason was edited away - as have one or two more posts since, the mods there are very keen on cleaning up topics

andy

[Brevet Cable]

Always been a problem with certain topics on PPRuNe.
Unfortunately , some of their deletions leaves the topics looking confusing or nonsensical.

[andygolfer]

Always been a problem with certain topics on PPRuNe.
Unfortunately , some of their deletions leaves the topics looking confusing or nonsensical.

an on this occasion I think they succeeded in the latter

[motormouser]

The topic title is extremely misleading and inaccurate.......one flaperon is not an aircraft.

Is it really?

[Brevet Cable]

Yes , it is , because it hasn't been found.

[motormouser]

You could argue that MH370 isn't and aircraft....but then i'd be sinking to your level...so i'll stop before i do!

[Big Eric]

You could argue that MH370 isn't and aircraft....

That doesn't make sense !

[motormouser]

It's a number,a designation....but as i said,you could argue...but i wont.

[JBartlett]

I wonder if they been looking in the wrong place all this time ? Someone came up with the theory they passed out like the Helios Airways Flight 522 and could off just flown till they ran out of fuel, though wonder how far that has travelled from the tide.

James

wrong place - not exactly, this wreckage (if it is from MH370) has been drifting for 16 months so is unlikely to be anywhere near the impact point. The authorities are probably looking in the right area (which is very large) but not exactly the right place otherwise they would have found it.

Helios theory - no, the Helios just went in a straight line from the initial loss of contact with the crew. MH370 did several controlled manoeuvres (thank goodness for spellcheck) before loss of radar contact something which an aircraft without any person in control would not have done, the initial turns had to be deliberate. How long the crew or at least the person who initiated those turns was in control is still unknown, i.e. did he/she stay concious until the impact or lose conciousness some time between the last turn (southwards)and the point of impact.

One question which nobody knows the answer to is 'which of the pilots was alone in the cockpit?' If the one who was alone and started the turns wanted to remain unidentified then he would not want to be found dead in the cockpit. So (and this is only speculation) he puts on his emergency oxygen supply and de-pressurises the aircraft thus asphyxiating all on board except himself. Carries out the turns to get onto the southern heading and then leaves the cockpit and goes into the cabin where he quietly dies as the aircraft flies on automatically and nobody would know who was last out of the cockpit and the culprit remains unidentified.

Then that's not looking in the right place is it Yes that's true but what's not to say it happened after they turned basically like what you just said in your last paragraph which seems the most likely? But lets all hope one day we have an answer.

James

[Ray Purchase]

Apparently you're all wide of the mark, this is what really has happened:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... g-jet.html