French Authorities Ruling Nothing Out Over Reunion Plane Debris

Boeing said Friday it will send a technical team to France to study plane debris that authorities increasingly believe is from Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which disappeared in March 2014.

MH370 disappeared after taking off from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on March 8, 2014, bound for Beijing with 239 people aboard.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop on Saturday described the discovery of a wing part, found this week on a beach on the French island of Reunion, as a positive sign for the hundreds of grieving families who may soon be provided with answers.

From there it will be transported to a defence ministry laboratory in Toulouse for analysis. “So we’ll be able to eliminate certain scenarios thanks to these indicators, rather than build one”, said Aeronautics expert Bertrand Vilmer from the French Appeal Court.

“And if in fact the plane parts found on Reunion island are linked to MH370, that would rather strengthen the case that we are in the right area“, he said.

Experts said previously the identification should not be too hard as wing parts, such as the discovered flaperon, usually have identification numbers that make it rather straightforward to trace the component back to the particular aircraft. Images of the debris appear to match schematic drawings for the right-wing flaperon from a 777.

The centre in Toulouse was also involved in analysing debris from the Air France flight AF447 which crashed on a flight from Brazil to Paris in 2009, killing 228 people.

Numerous passengers on the flight were Chinese leading search teams to believe the products could have belonged to them.

There were 239 passengers and crew on board the plane when it went missing.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development Warren Truss confirmed the Australian government was aware of the discovery and said it was being examined by experts to determine its origin.

The lack of physical evidence has given rise to speculation on the cause of the plane’s disappearance, with most theories focusing on a possible mechanical failure, a rogue pilot action or a terrorist plot.

“The computer predictions indicated that it would take between 12 and 18 months for the debris to travel from the current search area in the southeast Indian Ocean to Reunion Island”, he said.

“We know that the main debris field associated with MH370 is going to be on the bottom of the ocean, not floating on the surface”.

“After 16 months, the vagaries of the currents, reverse modelling is nearly impossible”, Truss said.