Nearly 18 months since Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 vanished, a 2.7m-long piece of debris discovered on Wednesday on the island of Réunion could finally provide clues to one of aviation’s great mysteries.
Investigators suspect the debris is a “flaperon”, a mix of a flap and an aileron.
Flaps keep the aircraft flying at slower speeds, but also increase drag, so are normally raised during flight for efficiency. They are mounted on the trailing edge (the back) of a wing and allow take off and landing at shorter distances.
An aileron, also hinged on the trailing edge, is used to roll the aircraft left and right.
Owing to Réunion’s remote location, armchair investigators are relying on photos taken at the site to understand the debris’ origins.
There has been much speculation - some wild - although airline blogs have been busy trying to compare the debris with what we know a flaperon looks like.
Here is a flaperon said to be from a Boeing 777 - MH370’s model - on a factory floor, posted on the airline discussion board on airliners.net. Users are comparing that image to the debris found in Réunion.
French aviation expert Xavier Tytelman was among the first to compare the photos to diagrams of the kind of flaperon attached to MH370. He highlighted four key similarities, pictured below.
Similitudes incroyables entre le flaperon d'un #B777 et le débris retrouvé ce matin à #LaReunion... #MH370 ? pic.twitter.com/GDkzRLwi2h
— Xavier Tytelman (@PeurAvion) July 29, 2015
Another clue is a code that reportedly appears on the debris, reading “BB670”. It’s unclear where the code appears on the debris, but according to former US National Transport Safety Bureau investigator, Greg Feith, each part of an aircraft carries a telltale data tag. On a Boeing 777 it would appear like this.
Inside Boeing’s Aircraft Maintenance Manual, 670 refers to a zone of part numbers relating to the plane’s right wing - including its flaperon.
