Reports today from the French Prosecutor and Malaysian Prime Minister indicated that the flaperon that washed up on Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean is indeed from MH370 that disappeared on March 8, 2014. Additional debris, including what appears to be a plastic cabin window frame, has also now washed ashore. But that may not be true. The flotsam washing up in Reunion has to be properly identified before we know any more. There is almost certainly more floating near the islands.
The French Prosecutor indicated in a news conference earlier today that the “presumption” that the parts were from MH370 is now “high presumption” while the Malaysian prime minister has stated directly that the part is from the aircraft, and has notified families of the news.
That is only logical, since the 777 has had only four accidents, including runway crashes in London and San Francisco, and a high altitude shoot-down over the Ukraine. MH370 is the only missing airplane, and the only missing flaperon would be from that aircraft. We believe the part is from that aircraft.
That being said, the question is how effectively marine biologists, analyzing the barnacles and other marine life attached to the debris, can pinpoint areas in which those species grow to trace back a path to a potential landing site. This we don’t know, and it will likely take quite some time before an analysis of ocean currents and marine life can provide clues as to whether the existing search area is the right place to be looking for the airplane.
The Bottom Line:
It will be quite some time until the aircraft is found, if it ever will be found. But we do now know for certain that it ended up in the Indian Ocean.
Other than confirming the general area, the barnacles are useless.
It may yield some idea of how it went in but that’s may be iffy due to protected location (or simply ripped off)
The confirmation is that the adjusted drift theory said debris in 18 months to Reunion/Mauritius and its showed up on track.
That also confirms the general area but its not remotely going to pin it down better than the ping data (validated now).
Its still a huge area and over 100 million spent in search and nothing and may not find it.