MH370 Update - Curt Lewis

Flight MH370 Update: Flaperon Shows Missing Malaysia Airlines Plane Intact On Indian Ocean Floor, Expert Says

As the search continues for missing Malaysia Airliner Flight 370, debris recently found on Reunion Island could provide new clues as to what happened to the plane. Pictured: Co-pilot and Squadron Leader Brett McKenzie of the Royal New Zealand Airforce helped to look for objects during the search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 in flight over the Indian Ocean, April 13, 2014, off the coast of Perth, Australia. Greg Wood - Pool/Getty Images

Recent evidence suggests Malaysia Airline Flight MH370 could be sitting intact on the Indian Ocean's floor, according to a satellite communications expert who was part of the early stages of the investigation after the plane went missing. The flaperon found July on Reunion Island indicated that the flight likely ran out of fuel and floated for a while before sinking, Zaaim Redha Abdul Rahman told Bernama, a Malaysian national news agency.

Zaaim Redha took part in the initial search to find the plane and helped analyze flight data to determine that it had landed in the Indian Ocean. Recent debris found from the plane has provided new clues of what happened to the missing airliner, he said.

"It (the flaperon) was only slightly damaged and was just encrusted with barnacles. Its appearance indicates that it was not violently torn off from the aircraft's main body...it does seem that it got detached pretty nicely at its edges," Zaaim Redha said.

In contrast to part of the plane's wing recently found on Reunion Island, he pointed out that no debris from Germanwings Flight 9525, which was flown into the French Alps in March, was found exceeding one foot. "If MH370 had crashed with a really hard impact, we would have seen small pieces of debris floating on the sea immediately after that," he said.

The Malaysia airliner went missing March 8, 2014. Despite a multi-national search for the whereabouts of the plane, no traces turned up until late last month, when debris was found washed ashore on Reunion Island, a French territory. While there were reports of other debris, only part of a wing has been confirmed as originating from the plane.

Zaaim Redha said the flaperon indicated it likely sat for some time at the bottom of the ocean with the plane before detaching and being pulled to shore by currents. The remnants were found far from the area investigators were searching, indicating either that the plane was far from the route investigators were searching or it had been pulled a long way by currents.

"Going by how the earth rotates, it's highly possible that the piece of debris could have floated (over a long distance) because the ocean current can be really powerful," he said.

Other sightings of debris have been reported, including in the Maldives, which joined the search for the missing Malaysia airliner last weekend, but so far none of the findings have been authenticated.

Flight MH370: France To Look For Debris Until Next Week; Flaperon In 'All Probability' From Missing Plane, JACC Says


A French military transport plane taxis on the runway at the airport in Saint-Denis at the start of a search mission along the coast near Saint-Andre on Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean on Aug. 7, 2015. Reuters/Stringer

France will continue air-and-sea search operations around the island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean until the beginning of next week for more debris that may be linked to missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, an official from the French island said, late Wednesday. French authorities launched the search for new debris on Reunion Island last Friday.

The focus of an international search for the plane shifted to the island near Madagascar after a wing flap washed up on its shores last month. Australian Transport Safety Bureau, which is leading the search for the plane, reviewed its analysis and said that the discovery of the flaperon -- 17 months after Flight MH370 went missing -- "is consistent with the current underwater search area in the southern Indian Ocean." However, French officials investigating the flaperon have not confirmed that it comes from the missing plane.

"Coordinated searches will continue until the beginning of next week," the Reunion Island official reportedly said, adding that search operations have so far yielded "no significant elements."

Since the flaperon's discovery, several other objects have also been collected from Reunion Island -- located about 2,300 miles west of the primary search area off the southwestern coast of Australia -- but authorities have ruled out their link to Flight MH370.

Australia's Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) said Wednesday that the flaperon in "all probability" was from the missing Boeing 777-200. The agency's comments came on the same day as families of those on board the plane rejected Malaysia's claim about the flaperon because France and Australia had not yet confirmed the link. Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak announced last week that the part belonged to the plane.

Meanwhile, Zaaim Redha Abdul Rahman, a satellite communications expert, told Bernama, a Malaysian national news agency, that recent evidence suggested that Flight MH370 could be sitting intact on the Indian Ocean floor. Analysis of the flaperon indicates that the plane likely ran out of fuel and floated for a while before sinking, according to Zaaim Redha.

"It (the flaperon) was only slightly damaged and was just encrusted with barnacles. Its appearance indicates that it was not violently torn off from the aircraft's main body...it does seem that it got detached pretty nicely at its edges," Zaaim Redha reportedly said.

Other sightings of debris have been reported, including in the Maldives, which joined the ongoing search for the missing plane last weekend, but so far none of the findings have been authenticated. The debris found on the Maldives will reportedly be sent to Malaysia for inspection. Malaysian authorities have also alerted nearby Madagascar and South Africa to be on the lookout for possible debris.

Over 23,166 square miles of an expanded 46,332 square miles of the southern Indian Ocean have been scoured so far to locate Flight MH370, which went missing on March 8, 2014, with 239 people on board while on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.