[Peetwo]

Ventus nails it - More on the fabulous, five-flip-flop-flap, flaperons but first a quote off AA&MH370  "V" post#436 (Ps especially note the part in bold):

..So, I think that what they need to do, starting as soon as possible (do not wait until March 2017), is this:-


1. Since we only have 5 drifterons (note to ATSB - you really do need a couple of dozen at least) seed them as 5 sets of "mated pairs", i.e. (a drifteron and a Global Drifter Buoy) together, as stated above, on the arc, at intervals of 5 degrees of latitude, ie, at 20, 25, 30, 35 and 40 degrees south, and track them for a month.
2. During the month, the drifteron will obviously diverge from it's "spouse" GDB.
3. At the end of 30 days, "Let the drifteron drift", and go and grab it's spouse GDB, and bring it back to it's mated drifteron, and drop it in beside it again.
4. Repeat the process every month.
5. Over "x" months, we will get an actual drift track for each of the drifterons themselves, plus, hopefully, they will also be able to build up a reasonable idea of how to calibrate the existing database of GDB's.

That will give us (assuming they start in October 2016), 5 months of data to work with up to March 2017.

By that stage, the drift models of GDB's should have been calibrated well enough to have a pretty good idea of where the "actual flaperon" entered the water.

Therefore, in March 2017, drop all 5 pairs in a 5 star pattern centered on that point, with a radius of 60 nautical miles, and "observe".

Okay now read the following courtesy of the Oz yesterday and again especially the part in bold... :

Replicas of debris to track MH370


Replicas of the MH370 flaperon that was found at Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean.

• Brendan Nicholson
  
• The Australian
  
• 12:00AM August 26, 2016
  

Defence Editor
Canberra

[img=0x0]http://pixel.tcog.cp1.news.com.au/track/component/author/9e8d7209e1c2ac7ea9fc05a8a39849e0/?esi=true&t_product=the-australian&t_template=s3/austemp-article_common/vertical/author/widget&td_bio=false[/img]
The team searching for MH370, has constructed replicas of a critical piece of wreckage from the Malaysia Airlines passenger jet to help scientists test ocean drift patterns which carried the flaperon to Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean.

MH370 disappeared with its 239 passengers and crew while on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014.

The flaperon, a control surface from the jet’s right wing, was found on a beach on the French island on July 29 last year after floating on ocean currents for more than a year.
Another part of the wing, a flap which would have been positioned next to the flaperon on the wing, was found some time later on the coast of the east ­African nation of Tanzania.

It is likely the wing was torn apart as the jet’s two giant ­engines hit the ocean surface at great speed.

Scientists from the CSIRO, working with the search co-ordinators from the Air Transport Safety Bureau, believe wreckage from the jet which remained afloat would have been carried by currents from the search area, off Western Australia, across the Indian Ocean towards Africa.

It is also possible some wreckage could have been swept across to the southern coast of Western Australia or towards Tasmania.

The CSIRO scientists have calculated likely drift patterns from 30 years of data collected by US counterparts who placed drift buoys throughout the oceans, including the search area waters.

To find a more precise starting point for the long drift of wreckage, scientists now need to compare the rate of movement and the general behaviour of the flaperon in the water with that of the American buoys.

The search team has constructed several replica flaperons, fitted with transmitters, which will be set adrift alongside free-floating buoys. Scientists will plot courses and speed of both.

The first of these tests will be carried out off Tasmania. CSIRO scientists will then add to the new information to known drift patterns of the buoys.

They believe that will give a better idea of where the real ­flaperon began its journey in the seconds after MH370 hit the water.

To help build on the tiny fragments of evidence about the resting place of MH370, scientists have also examined marine life scraped from the recovered ­flaperon to calculate the latitude at which barnacles began growing as it floated.

Analysis by the Defence ­Science and Technology group of several sets of signals transmitted automatically by the jet indicates MH370 fell rapidly into the ocean after running out of fuel. That scenario is supported by all members of an international advisory group who examined the data and the Australian scientists’ conclusions

Hmm... "V" is there something your not telling us mate??

So my reading is that between the time CSIRO's David Griffin acknowledged Graeme Harrison's conceptual idea of drifterons in the CSIRO blog the boffins at the CSIRO & ATSB have been working on and refining the concept which has now metamorphosed into their 'drifteron project'.

I would also hypothesise that this was largely done in secret, due to the obvious conflict of interest with the Beaker (read Malaysian) backed, narrowly scoped MH370 SIO priority search area, on the 7th Arc. And now with Beaker gone and a more proactive, open-minded Greg Hood at the helm, the white-hat boffins now feel emboldened to take their 'drifteron project' to the next stage...

If my hypothesise is remotely true and having an obviously captured Muppet in charge caused a bureaucratic delay in process, then this will be the cause of shame and possible trigger for a future Senate inquiry. Unsurprisingly Greg Hood (in this FMT article: Aussie Minister pledges full report on MH370 is quite comfortable facing a Senate Inquiry into MH370 if one is called:

ATSB Chief Commissioner Greg Hood has meanwhile stressed that he was prepared to face a Senate Inquiry, should one be held, on the search for MH370.

“We have nothing to hide,” said Hood. “We have kept the families completely informed about every development, every step of the way.”

Coming so late into the MH370 search means that Hoody has very little skin in the game and therefore not much to lose, on the other hand it would be a slightly different story for miniscule..err what's-his-name??       

MTF...P2  

Ps Oh and by the way it looks like they may have found another likely piece of MH370 debris in Mozambique (see attachment).