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Latest update via the AAP courtesy of the Oz:

MH370 five things: what happened, the search, conspiracy theories  

• by: Jacquelin Magnay
  
• From: The Australian
  
• August 01, 2015 10:40AM
  

European Correspondent



Debris that washed ashore on Réunion bears similarities to a wing section of a Boeing 777, the same model as MH370. (Note: Debris may come from different side of plane than pictured.) WSJ Source: Supplied

The discovery of debris believed to be from Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 is the first positive sign that hundreds of families may soon be provided with answers, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop says.  

Malaysian authorities have confirmed the wing flap, which washed up on Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean this week, is from a Boeing 777 - all but confirming it is a part of the missing aircraft.

It has been sent to France for analysis as the international search effort, led by Australia and now spanning 16 months, continues.

“In a sense, this is the first positive sign that we have located part of that plane,” Ms Bishop told Channel Seven on Saturday.

“Experts will have to analyse, if this is a piece of MH370, the current drifts and how it ended up there, what does that mean for the broader search question.” Ms Bishop reaffirmed Australia’s commitment to the search and said the families of the 239 passengers on board deserved answers.

Investigators are “moving close to solving the mystery of MH370,” Malaysia’s deputy transport minister said earlier.

“I believe that we are moving close to solving the mystery of MH370. This could be the convincing evidence that MH370 went down in the Indian Ocean,” Abdul Aziz Kaprawi said.

He said a part number stencilled on the piece of wreckage recovered on the Indian Ocean island of La Reunion on Wednesday confirms it came from a Boeing 777.

The ill-fated jet, which vanished 16 months ago with 239 people aboard, was a Boeing 777.

Investigators believe it mysteriously diverted off its flight path from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in March of last year and later crashed in the southern Indian Ocean.

There have been no other crashes of that aircraft model in that part of the world.

“From the part number, it is confirmed that it is from a Boeing 777 aircraft. This information is from MAS (Malaysia Airlines). They have informed me,” he said.
AFP was not immediately able to reach Malaysia Airlines for comment. The wing component found on the French island of La Reunion bears the part number “657 BB”, according to photos of the debris.

The two-metre long piece of wreckage, known as a flaperon, has been sent to France for analysis.

Abdul Aziz’s remarks are the latest official statement pointing to the increasingly likelihood that the piece of wreckage came from the missing Malaysia Airlines flight.

Hopes are rising fast that the part can soon be conclusively identified in order to resolve one of aviation’s great mysteries.

Abdul Aziz said the most definitive confirmation of its origin would have to come from Boeing, saying the aircraft manufacturer performed modifications to the flaperon that would make it easy to identify.

“There have been some modifications to internal beams in the flaperon. Only Boeing can verify (that the flaperon came from MH370). The modifications were done by Boeing,” he said.

“Only after they verify the internal parts of the flaperon can they be sure that it is from MH370.” Abdul Aziz said a team of Malaysian investigators had arrived in Paris and would make its way to the city of Toulouse to help examine the debris.

Another Malaysian team was en route to Reunion, he said, where it would examine the remains of a piece of luggage that was found there and any other debris that may turn up.

UK offers help

Britain has offered to provide hydrographers and oceanographers to help in the MH370 investigation following analysis of the aircraft debris that landed on Reunion island.

British defence minister Michael Fallon has offered the team from the UK Hydrographic Office (UKHO) and the Met Office to run a modelling process known as ‘hind casting’ to use historical data on ocean currents and survey data of the sea floor to try and establish where debris might have come from. This would help narrow down the extensive search area the Australian led international search team has been scouring over the past 18 months off the west coast of Australia.

Mr Fallon said in a statement:’’the team at the UKHO are highly skilled and it is hoped that their technical and analytical experience will narrow the search area for MH370.’’ He said Britain stands ready to aid Malaysia in their efforts to find this plane.

Boeing 777 confirmed

Malaysian officials have confirmed the debris washed up on Reunion Island on Wednesday is from a Boeing 777, increasing the chances it is from the ill-fated Malaysia Airlines MH370.

Only one Boeing 777 aircraft has crashed in the southern hemisphere, that of the MH370 which went missing on March 8, 2014 after taking off from Kuala Lumpur.

“From the part number, it is confirmed that it is from a Boeing 777 aircraft. This information is from MAS (Malaysia Airlines). They have informed me,” deputy transport minister Abdul Aziz Kaprawi said.

French investigators have organised for the aircraft debris, which is a flaperon, to be air freighted to France overnight for further investigation.

Other small items have been found on Reunion Island include a chinese water bottle and a Malaysia bottle of cleaning fluid. Remnants of a suitcase found in the same area as the flaperon is also being investigated to see if it belongs to any of the 239 people who were onboard the aircraft.

The large chunk of debris washed up on the west coast shoreline at St Andrew on the island Wednesday morning local time, and if it is determined to be from MH370, it will help solve one of the biggest aviation mysteries of all time.

Locals say the piece of plane appears to have been in the water for around a year.
In the 18 months since there have been extensive multi national searches including the Australian-led search off the west coast of Australia that was initiated by computer analysis of ‘’pings’’ emanating from the plane which appeared to change course in a dead spot of radar activity between Malaysia and Vietnam.

MH370 - Five facts

MH370: what we know so far

More than a year after Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 went missing en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, the discovery of airplane debris on Réunion, a French island near Madagascar, has added another twist to one of aviation’s greatest mysteries.

1. What happened to MH370?
Flight 370 is thought to have crashed in the southern Indian Ocean after veering off its intended flight path on March 8, 2014, with 239 people on board. Investigators believe it ran out of fuel. No trace of the aircraft has been found. But debris that washed ashore on Réunion bears similarities to a wing section of a Boeing 777, the same model as the missing jet. The wing segment normally helps control the craft’s movement.

2. How did the search unfold?
Malaysia and Vietnam initially searched in the South China Sea, near the plane’s last reported position. The search then expanded to the Indian Ocean after investigators found that the jet transmitted information to a satellite—leaving a trail of data that investigators mined to help identify a likely crash site, far off the southwestern coast of Australia. In April 2014, the operation refocused on an area the size of West Virginia. That zone has since been doubled to up to 46,000 square miles. (See a timeline of the search below)

3. Who is involved in finding the plane?
Malaysia and Australia have been leading the search, along with China, which had more citizens than any other nation on the plane. Officials have questioned the conventions that have led to Australia’s bearing the brunt of search costs–about US$66 million. French officials are trying to determine the provenance of the debris that washed up on Réunion, with input from Australia, Malaysia and aircraft manufacturers.

4. What about the conspiracy theories?
The mystery has left the field open for some to pursue their own inquiries. Sara Bajc, whose partner Philip Wood was on the plane, is skeptical of the official investigation. She scrolls through tips about the plane submitted by the public, including those claiming to have seen an object flaming in the sky the day Flight 370 disappeared. Others allege there has been a coverup. One group has set up a website called The Hunt for 370. Another group of family members, Voice 370, has pushed for Malaysia to release more information on the plane’s cargo.

5. Where do the search and investigation go from here?
The airplane debris that washed up on Réunion could be the first tangible evidence that investigators were right: the plane crashed in the Indian Ocean. But locating the remainder of the wreckage would be a hard task, relying on complex calculations about ocean currents and weather patterns over nearly 17 months. Officials caution it is too soon to say whether the debris is linked to Flight 370.
The Wall Street Journal




The MH370 search area. Source: TheAustralian

The Hunt for MH370
Flight 370 went missing more than a year ago with 227 passengers and 12 crew members on board. Here are the key developments in the search:
March 8, 2014
Flight 370 departs Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 12:41 a.m. bound for Beijing, but loses contact with civilian air-traffic control less than an hour into the flight. Malaysia and Vietnam start searching in the South China Sea, near its last reported position. On board were 227 passengers and 12 crew members.
March 9
Based on the Royal Malaysia Air Force’s radar recording, there was a possible “turnback” by Flight 370. The search area is extended from the South China Sea to the Strait of Malacca, on the other side of the Malay Peninsula.
March 11
Police say the investigation into the missing plane would examine the possibility of hijacking, sabotage, and psychological and personal problems among passengers and crew.
March 14
The international search expands to the Indian Ocean.
March 15
Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak says there is a “high degree of certainty” that the plane’s two communications systems were disabled. He says data relayed by the plane to a satellite confirms it diverged from its planned route and that its last satellite communication came at 8:11 a.m.
March 24
Mr. Najib announces that satellite data released by Inmarsat concluded that the missing plane ended its flight in the southern Indian Ocean, west of Perth, Australia.
April 8
The flight data recorders, known as black boxes, reached their approximate 30-day battery life expectancy and would no longer send locater signals.
April 28
The search coordinated by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority moves to an underwater phase, assisted by Malaysia and China.
June 26
The search shifts farther south and the Joint Agency Coordination Center leading the effort says there is a strong possibility that MH370 was on autopilot when communication with the satellite stopped.
January 29, 2015
Officials declare MH370’s disappearance an accident, and say that all 239 people aboard are presumed to have died.
July 29, 2015
Investigators were examining a piece of an aircraft that was found on Réunion Island but they couldn’t confirm whether it was from Flight 370, which is believed to have crashed off the southwestern coast of Australia more than a year ago.
The Wall Street Journal

Also from ABC Radio on this morning's AM program Ben Sandilands is interviewed...

Piece of wreckage 'very likely' to be from missing flight MH370: officials

Mandie Sami reported this story on Saturday, August 1, 2015 08:00:00
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ELIZABETH JACKSON: Officials in Malaysia say a piece of wreckage found on the Indian Ocean island of La Reunion is "very likely" to be from the missing flight MH370.

Malaysia's deputy transport minister Abdul Aziz Kaprawi has told the AFP news agency that a part number stencilled on the piece of wreckage recovered confirms it came from a Boeing 777.

The ill-fated jet, which vanished 16 months ago with 239 people aboard, was a Boeing 777.

Ben Sandilands is aviation analyst who has been working in field since 1960.

He told our reporter Mandie Sami he's almost 100 per cent sure this is it.

BEN SANDILANDS: It's extremely significant because there's probably only one part that corresponds to that number, which would be in the wild, so to speak: and that's the part that's been recovered from the north shore of La Réunion island.

MANDIE SAMI: So what does it actually mean - this part? When you see the pictures, it doesn't look like there's anything that could be identifiable because it's in very bad shape. How would they actually go about confirming this now?

BEN SANDILANDS: It's actually not that difficult for the aero engineers. It meets the size. It's made of the same material. It has the part number on it.

And not only that, but it conforms to some of the drift analysis which predicted that wreckage - that floating wreckage - from the loss of the aircraft would migrate in time toward La Réunion, Madagascar and possibly even Mauritius.

MANDIE SAMI: So this doesn't come as a surprise to you, at least?

BEN SANDILANDS: Not at all. And the reason why I think people are confident that the Australian search is vaguely in the right area are the two factors. The two critical factors: the plane flew for seven hours, 39 minutes and when it came down the satellites that it was talking to had to be 44 degrees above the horizon. So that gives us an arc of possibilities where the plane wreckage lies. But unfortunately that's a very, very large area.

MANDIE SAMI: This piece is now actually being flown to France for analysis. What actually happens?

BEN SANDILANDS: I think that they want to have a really good look at the panel, or the flaperon, to see what it tells them forensically. Has it been burnt? The answer's probably no but they don't know the answer. What sort of forces was it subjected to, to show the damage that we see on the trailing edge?

When we look at that piece of wreckage, the wider bit - the rounded bit - is actually embedded in the wing and the torn bit at the other side is actually the end of the flap - flaperon - that you would have seen if you were looking out of the window.

MANDIE SAMI: So from your analysis - I know the Malaysian officials are saying that it is very highly likely - your independent analysis: do you believe that this is it?

BEN SANDILANDS: Yes, I do. I'm so confident, I'm prepared to say it is it. There's the remotest of possibilities that at some stage in the past, somebody has needed to replace one of those flaperons with a new one and somehow or other the piece - the old piece - got discarded or thrown away. That's an incredibly unlikely scenario. There is only one missing 777 in the world: it's MH370. And this piece shows every sign of having come from it.

MANDIE SAMI: The transport official Abdul Aziz: he's said that he was informed of the confirmation of the part number by Malaysia Airlines. If that's the case, why haven't we had an official announcement?

BEN SANDILANDS: I think anybody - including (laughs) some long-suffering ABC reporters, I might add, who had to sit through the Malaysia Airlines briefings every night in Kuala Lumpur - will tell you that they are not in any way surprised by this process of obfuscation and lack of disclosure.

We've got to remember that we are dealing with a government which has never before had to deal with an aggressive Western media live on TV and radio. They are used to controlling the message. They cannot control this message.

ELIZABETH JACKSON: Aviation analyst Ben Sandilands speaking there to our reporter, Mandie Sami.

MTF..P2