French experts finding it tough to identify MH370 flaperon

The missing plane in 2011. (Wiki Commons)

Investigators are working round the clock amid news of a missing identification plate on the flaperon that purportedly belonged to missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

The difficulties surrounding this new development has only deepened uncertainties surrounding the real origin of the object found on Reunion Island.

More than two weeks after it was discovered, in-depth analysis by a global team of experts has apparently not given away its secret.

While Malaysia and its national airline Malaysian Airline System (MAS) seem certain the flaperon come from the missing aircraft, the French are still in the dark.

In fact, Malaysia's prime minister, Najib Razak, came under fire for prematurely making announcements on the matter.

French daily newspaper Le Monde said there was a sense of uncertainty among experts, on whether the flaperon is really connected to the missing Malaysian Airline System plane MH370, and this appalling.

The daily reported that experts analysing the flaperon are not sure of the precise identity of the wing flap, and this for several awkward reasons.

Despite the fact the MAS and PM Najib Razak had conveyed the sad news to the victim's families, that the wing part belonged to MH370, analysts told Le Monde they are still in the dark.

The piece of wing, called a flaperon in French, looks similar to that of any Boeing 777, but the absence of serial numbers that could connect it to the missing MAS flight, has raised doubts in France.

Found on July 29 on the island by passers-by on the rocky beach, along with a series of items now proven not to be connected to the aircraft, the French are adamant that they are not absolutely certain of the origin of the aircraft part.

The ding-dong on whether the flaperon was a piece of the Boeing 9M-MRO that flew to its fatal destination on March 8 last year from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, has added more pain and injury to the families in mourning.

The flight went missing from radars after 40 minutes of flight, with 239 passengers on board almost two years ago.

Its disappearance and the flip-flop that surrounded the initial stages of the incident, has fueled various conspiracy theories, some of which sounded impossible and senseless.

A source close to the experts told Lemonde.fr there were no definitive conclusions the flaperon came from the missing Boeing.

With the Australians saying the first part of the analysis conducted in France's Direction générale de l’armement-Techniques aéronautiques (DGA-TA) de Balma, had terminated.

Since March 17, 2014, Australia took the lead in the search and rescue in the Indian Ocean, the probable area where the plane is said to have crash landed.

Missing identification plate What the French are skeptical about is the missing identification plate on the flaperon, and this mystery will not be resolved until the experts come back from holidays, to conclude the second and possibly final part of the analysis.

 The main expert, who have identified a serialised part from the flaperon, is still away and is not due back to the lab to confirm whether the specific piece was sold to MAS.

 That would solve the mystery, and erase all remaining doubts about the identity of the flaperon.

 Experts said they did not find the matriculation plate on the flaperon, which makes it difficult to confirm it is a part of the MH370.

 The most damning is the fact that experts believe the repairs done by MAS on the flaperon, does not exactly correspond to indicators found on the recovered wing piece.

 The French newspaper said the analysis in France could come to three conclusions: Yes, it is from MH370, no it is not and maybe it is.

 "At this very moment, it appears to be a 'maybe'" wrote the newspaper, in an analysis article on the confusion reigning among experts processing the wing flap in Toulouse.

 In the end, France will not agree it is from MH370 if the experts cannot agree and prove the origin of the piece, but there is still one avenue the French could use to definitely declare it is MH370's flaperon.

This may be the fact that Boeing does not destroy its used aircraft parts, but repairs them and uses them in other aircraft, analysts told The Week.

Bearing this in mind, the French will have to come out and say it is a part from MH370, since this is the only Boeing 777 that is missing.

The breakage on the wing part is also consistent with a force landing of the aircraft in the sea, and its immersion into the ocean in one piece.

It is the visibly well preserved part, and the size of the part that attests to this theory.

But of course, this leads us to another question. What precisely has made the French so uncertain, and Malaysia so certain?

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By The Week Editors