[Peetwo]

Captain's Log 13.12.16: DOI archive entry 161213.

First courtesy the AFP, via the South China Morning Post:

Scouring Madagascar beaches, desperate Chinese families search for MH370 clues and closure
PUBLISHED : Monday, 12 December, 2016, 12:24pm
UPDATED : Monday, 12 December, 2016, 9:17pm


Blaine Gibson, an American lawyer turned self-funded sleuth (right) and relatives of Chinese passengers of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, look for debris from the lost plane on Sainte Marie island in Madagascar. Photo: Reuters


Agence France-Presse
 
It was a heartfelt journey before Christmas, a search for clues about loved ones who disappeared in a still unsolved mystery. The mission was a long shot, at best.
But for several families seeking answers over the fate of relatives who perished aboard flight MH370 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014, any effort is better than none.

Frustrated by a lack of progress in official investigations into the disappearance of the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777, the Chinese and other families spent the past week in Madagascar, combing beaches.

Fragments identified with “near certainty” as coming from the aircraft were discovered in recent months on the coast of East Africa, prompting the unorthodox search.

Jiang Hui, a 44-year-old from China who lost his mother on the flight, has not given up hope of finding out why 239 people disappeared without a trace.


Jiang Hui (left) and another relative of an MH370 passenger examine debris found on Sainte Marie island in Madagascar. Photo: Reuters

“When I first found debris on Wednesday, I was very excited... and very sad,” he said, after a day that was both physically and emotionally gruelling.

“Whenever we discover this kind of fragment, I think we are getting closer to the truth. This is what I want to hope for,” he said, under a boiling hot sun.

Neither the location nor the cause of the crash is known, feeding wild conspiracy theories. The families have covered parts of Madagascar on foot, by 4x4 vehicles and on quad bikes.

And they have been accompanied by Blaine Gibson, an American amateur investigator who has also been trying to find out what happened to flight MH370.

Over two days of searching, the team found debris on Nosy Boraha, an island off the eastern coast. After a discovery on the second day, a Malaysian woman who lost her husband onboard MH370, burst into tears.

But such finds harden Hui’s resolve.


Relatives of MH370 passengers arrive at Sainte Marie island in Madagascar. Photo: Reuters.

“I think our trip to Madagascar was justified,” he said before the group left Sunday, mindful that such discoveries are just the starting point in the quest for clues, as the fragments could easily have come from a boat, not a plane.

The finds bore no identifiable features and they will be passed to local authorities before being sent to Malaysia for analysis. The process can take months.

Whether in hope or out of actual belief, Hui tries to stay positive.

“I have done a lot of research on aeroplane debris to know what it looks like. I know very well what to look for,” he said.

Some of the families ventured to Madagascar out of a sense of desperation, exasperated at the lack of progress in the official searches and investigation.

It is believed MH370 crashed into the Indian Ocean, but an extensive deep-sea hunt off Australia’s west coast failed to find a single piece of debris.

As such, families took matters into their own hands.

“I would prefer that the authorities do this,” rather than rely “on tourists or fishermen to find debris by chance”, said Hui, adding that a coordinated effort would be “much better”.

In Madagascar, some officials from the Malaysian government travelled with the relatives of MH370 victims.

“The bigger the piece (of debris), the greater the chance we have of determining its origin,” explained Aslam Basha Khan of the Malaysian Ministry of Transport.

“But sometimes we are not able to make a direct link with the plane,” Khan said.

The families also used the trip to heighten awareness among the local population about the search.

In Nosy Boraha, a guide named Cyriak Rakotosoa, who found a piece of debris in October, has become an ally.

“I tell the fishermen that if they find something similar they should bring it to the hotel. But usually if they do, they use it to repair a roof.”

In a sign of the distress felt by the families, Li Er You, a Chinese man whose only son was on MH370, threw a bottle filled with money and a letter into the sea.

“We put all our heart into this bottle,” he said. “We hope someone will find it who knows where the plane fell. If someone finds this bottle, please contact me quickly.”

Next the latest from Chillit's Seventh Arc blog... :

MH370 Debris Within 6 Months!
Posted on December 11, 2016 by Mike Chillit

If you’re following along on Twitter, you know by now imaging specialists at Satellite Imaging Corporation in Houston have confirmed that an object that appears to be about half of a 777’s left wing is indeed “aircraft debris”. The spectral signature is nearly identical to that for Boeing 747 wing surfaces. Since the metallic composition of 777 wings is a more recent aluminum alloy, we expected a close but not exact match.

Spectral results rule out “shiny” objects like fiberglass used in the construction of sailing and fishing vessels; they also rule out wood construction, any number of non-metallic materials used in the construction of boats and planes, and non-buoyant materials that could not have drifted to the island without aid of people. (St. Brandon Island is closed to tourist traffic. Getting on the island is difficult, expensive, and requires permits.)

Looking ahead, I do not personally have an interest in physically recovering the St. Brandon wing, others may feel differently. Others may want tangible confirmation that it is indeed part of MH370. I understand the interest, and fully support such efforts as long as done in accordance with the wishes and requirements of the government of Mauritius, which has administrative responsibility for the island.

However, for me, the focus remains on finding the rest of the aircraft. Today’s confirmation helps us enormously. It tells us MH370 debris was on St. Brandon sometime prior to September 9, 2014: six (6) months or less after the plane is believed to have crashed in the southeastern Indian Ocean. There are two immediate implications from that. First, the debris could not possibly have drifted from the original search area south of Broken Ridge, a belief now held by most of those who still follow efforts to find the Malaysian Airliner.

Second, it strongly suggests Cyclone Gillian was instrumental in putting MH370 debris where it was in September 2014. We know that because NOAA Satellite-tracked buoy #101655 suffered a similar fate. The buoy was on the “Seventh Arc” on March 8, 2014. Gillian hit it directly on March 25, catapulting it across the Indian Ocean to -10.023, 63.178, north of St. Brandon by July 26, 2014: a mere 4 months.


Cyclone Gillian’s role in moving MH370 debris from the crash site to the Mascarene Islands.

In fact, comparing the track of NOAA buoy #101655 to a hypothetical track from the same origin to St. Brandon during the same time frame is quite reasonable.

I will expand this article as time and events dictate. There is much more to be told, but I need to spend more time reviewing lab results provided by Satellite Imaging Corporation.

MTF...P2