Hot on the heels of a reported possible MH370 piece in South Australia, news reaches us that Blaine Alan Gibson has found three pieces of suspected MH370 debris in Madagascar. This article says, in part:
Three new fragments which could have come from Malaysia Airlines Flight 270 were discovered on the morning of Monday, June 6, on the Island of Nosy Boraha, in the northeast of Madagascar…
These fragments were found by Blaine Alan Gibson, an American businessman, while he was accompanied by a from the France 2 TV show “Complément d’enquête.” They were on a long, almost deserted beach near the village of Sahasifotra, where tons of waste arrive every day from the Indian Ocean.
One piece in particular, 77 cm wide by 50 cm, apparently made by composite materials, strongly resembles another fragment which Gibson found in February on the coast of Mozambique.
” These two fragments are very very similar: the same paint color, the diameter of the attachment holes is identical. and on the back the texture is the same. I believe that it is a piece from MH370,” Blaine Alan Gibson told our colleagues. Two other parts were also found, a smaller panel with the inscription “FB” as well as another plastic part which could be the frame of an economy class seat’s video screen.
UPDATE 6/9/16: Here’s a screengrab of a YouTube video showing a Malaysia Airlines 777 economy class seatback (thanks to reader @sk999). The coat hook in particular looks like a good match for the third piece.
Here’s an even better shot, via @BBCwestcott. Note the color of the fabric around the “COAT HOOK” button:
(From the last thread)
@Susie and @Paul Smithson: This new potential discovery supports the observation that the debris is concentrated in locations that are “hot spots” for debris collection along the shore. The fact that Mr. Gibson was able to find for the second time what appears to be MH370 debris, this time with a film crew in tow, strongly suggests that a concerted effort should be able to find more debris. I have argued that the circumstances surrounding Mr. Gibson’s first extraordinary find should be repeatable if there was no tampering. It appears this has occurred.
from last thread
@DennisW
I think you are very close to the truth. The only shortcoming of your jegement seems to me, is your underrating of some facts, that point to outside help to possible perpetrators during the act.
I said a year ago, that the apraisal of the known facts depend on the scenario, you chose. Now, after the end of the search in the SIO the apraisal of those facts should become much mor weight.
– outside help from within MAS to the perpetrators by offering false informations about the whereabouts for two consecutive situations
– outside help from within the RMAF by not sending the jets to stop a rogue plane against every protocol
– outside help by starting a sat signal when the primary radar signal disappeared
– outside help by relaxing controls at the airport before the flight
etc. etc.
If you stay with the hypothesis of outside help, you must forget about the pilot. Then you have something aboard the plane, that was important enough to intercept it. You know what sacrifices Churchill was prepared to make, to get in possession of the “Enigma” code machine of the Germans?
I find it an interesting and important subject, but agree that the tone is not helpful.
Why not try to improve the climate/tone instead of shutting down an important discussion altogether? BTW, This goes directly back to my post yesterday.
See, Jeff, it’s exactly the consequence of what I tried to caution against:
http://jeffwise.net/2016/06/07/more-about-african-mh370-debris/comment-page-3/#comment-170221
@Oleksandr: I hope you’ll stay. Your valuable contributions would be sadly missed here!
Can I just ask something unimportant – why is CosmicAcademy’s posting name bolded on the RH side, along with Jeff’s, and everyone else is in plain text?
Not a conspiracy I’m sure : )
Greg Long wrote: “@Oleksandr: I hope you’ll stay. Your valuable contributions would be sadly missed here!”
I second that.
At last debris turns up in Madagaskar where it was expected for so long.
A very important find imo.
Panel dimensions are given here 77cm x 50cm.
If it’s a same panel as the other one this coincidence could tell a lot imo.
If the plastic frame is indeed from a cabin chair a broken fusalage becomes almost unavoidable, to me also.
It’s realy becoming a ‘debris storm’..
Proficiat for Blain Gibson finding this debris and another ‘hot spot’.
@Susie, Is it? Looks the same to me. Another WordPress mystery.
@VictorI Agreed – and that is exactly what I would expect. In fact you will see that St Marie area and the bay immediately north of it (Helodrano Antongila) are pretty much the only “wobble” in the Madagascar E coastline for a very long way, as well as having some extending continental shelf. I had pondered earlier whether S.Marie might attract debris. I expect that there will be corresponding areas on the S tip of the island.
@Jeff Wise
I think it could be helpfull if you would also publish the first photo of the panel on the beach with Blain Gibson and the crew around it (if it’s allowed..).
Comparison of dimensions is possible and the other side of the panel is mostly visible.
@ Ge Rijn,
Indeed; to have such a small piece of an interior seat, does not bode well for finding a whole fuselage on the sea floor.
It would be awful to see this as NOK.
(from last thread)
@Sunken Deal, I don’t think we need to, or should, accept the provenence of these pieces uncritically. To my eye, they fall into three categories: pieces with barnacle growth, like Reunion and Rodrigues; pieces that show signs of past sealife colonization and weathering (smoothed edges), like “Rolls-Royce”; and pieces that seem both unweathered and free of much evidence of sea life, like Liam Lötter’s piece and todays “second” piece.
That happens if you fill out the “website” form field when posting a comment.
I did it with my posting here for demonstration purposes.
This mystery solved.
MH370 mystery a little trickier to solve …
@Susie
Yes indeed it won’t.
But to me this piece can still be anything and the other two only aircraft pieces.
Me being a silly dutch, what’s the meaning of NOK?
@Jeff – I can certainly appreciate your delineation of the debris into that taxonomy; it’s certainly analytically sound. It’s also fair and, at the same time, critical. It’s rigor like this that you and everyone here follows that keeps me coming back, and it’s no wonder to me that this site is the definitive authority that the world now looks to for MH370 discourse.
I was only trying to probe (admittedly from a non-qualitative and very subjective mindset) as to what I view as an infinitesimal coincidence that on the eve of the shutdown of the official search, debris is suddenly located on Kangaroo Island. I’m not positing any wacky multinational/multi-party conspiracy theory; I was just noting a stunning coincidence of curious timing, and hoping that collectively the board expands its empirical focus to include other factors (much like Matty started to do a couple of weeks ago).
@Ge Rijn
NOK – next of kin. Surviving Family members…
Kangaroo Island Debris:
I would guess that the debris is from a hi tech sailboat. Reason: Stencil is neither Boeing nor MAB. “Caution No Step” in Stencil is not used to my knowledge in 777 Stencils just “No Step”. 5 cell Honeycomb like symbol is also not used; to my knowledge. H/C Symbol is similar to Hexcel Corp three Cell symbol. Used as an ad? on this part or to explain the “Caution No Step” as Honeycomb? Carbon material is fabric, no issue but; there are many plies of fabric carbon material; No carbon tape; more than I would expect in an airplane part. I see Nomex core (at least it is brown/ maybe brown adhesive) in side view.
http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/p/f/u/o/a/image.related.articleLeadwide.620×349.gpftdf.png/1465475015824.jpg
Video of debris find looks staged. Like it was found then covered with wood and then found again for the news program. Might be nothing but……
No visible marine debris on part.
Could easily be wrong………….
A stunning coïncidence it would be if it turns out this Madagascar panel would be a same kind of panel like the Mozambique panel and would be another part of the same location.
Found a picture of a B777 economy lcd-screen.
It sure has similarities but imo it does not fit (yet) f.i. ‘knob hole’ is on the wrong site. Scroll down ~half way..:
http://www.airlines-inform.com/flight-reports/morrow-348.html
@Ge Rijn
@Susie
@David (but not necessarily in that order, as I regard you all equal, obviously)
What a day! Second flaperon leading edge seal panel arrives! Ripped out of its mounting frame, just like the first one.
Third one is out there somewhere.
I agree, two of the pictures are of the same object, ie closing panel.
@Ge Rijn
Could you imagine trying to work out the odds of this happening, in advance – two adjacent panels reaching the Mozambique/Madagascar after travelling thousands of miles across the Indian Ocean?
I’m going to have to lie down in a darkened room for a while.
@Victorl,
Do you think there is still a possibility for planted debris theory ?
The seats on 9M-MRD had cloth covered backs, with no knobs. Unless the knob was underneath the cloth cover, and the cloth was completely ripped off, the third image does not match MRD.
If -MRD and -MRO had different seats, or the picture is a premium seat, that’s a different story, but at first glance it does not look like a match.
@Gi Rijn,
Pretty sure that the seat-back frame is just being held backwards in the picture. Nice find on the link you sent. Most of the images I found for the B777 were alternate style seats.
Malaysia Airlines 777 economy class IFE. The “knob” says “COAT HOOK”. It can be on either left or right side.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPMLvWNn3e8
Seems like a promising match to piece 3.
@Big Mac – the FB is visible in the background, so it’s not a mirror image.
It does appear that the piece has Velcro on it, so it would work with a cloth cover, but then we’re definitely looking at the face of the piece.
Never mind, I see what sk999 is saying. I agree, it’s a promising match.
Better picture of the ”coat hook” debris
https://twitter.com/BBCwestcott/status/740963613905702912
investing $100M to search the area with very low probability yet not investing a single million in organizing search for debris on african coast which could give a lot better picture where the plane lies? Am I the only one finding this ridiculous?
Yep. Great work, sk999. That is pretty definitive. And Jeff – I think you’re argument about a relatively high-speed impact was seriously bolstered with this find.
@JS @sk999 @ir1907
Yes I saw the FB also in the background. It’s not mirrored but sk999 is right; the knob can be on both sides.
That twitter picture shows some blue fabric around the very clear knob base. The knob inscriptions sure reminds me of the Blain Gibson piece fastener.
The picture I posted is from a 777-300 so I think a newer model.
Following photo is economy class Malalaysian Airways 777-200. The middle seats fit the place of the knob and ~color of fabric.
Scroll down again halfway.. :
http://says.com/my/lifestyle/boeing-777-facts-one-of-the-world-s-safest-most-popular-jet-planes
The knop says clearly; ‘ÇOAT HOOK’!
@ir1907, @BBCwestcott has got a bunch of great pics in his Twitter feed. I won’t bother to reprint them here, but you can really get a good up-close look at these things. My first impression is that all three seem to be in very similar condition: small, unweathered and entirely innocent of marine life. Much like Blaine’s Mozambique find.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CkheNFcWUAAlzWt.jpg
This debris could be a closer panel forward of the Ailerons. It’s size is a clue. ~16 inches wide and +36 long. Maybe less. Fits smaller size of Aileron closer panels. Other side is ~flat; per other pictures.
@sk999
As said before you were definitely right. Your video link did not work here but the twitter photo nails it.
Very promising find indeed.
@Ken Goodwin
Yes it’s a lot smaller as the other panels but same kind of trapezium construction.
I noticed the ‘B’ does not fit a Boeing stencil ‘B’ but is more like the MAS ‘B’ on the Liam Lotter piece, but not quite..
But it’s a similar ‘B’ as the one in the part number stencilled in the flaperon:
Scroll down again halfway…
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/mh370-search-live-debris-found-on-reunion-island-very-likely-to-be-from-missing-plane-says-10429173.html
@IR1907 asked, “Do you think there is still a possibility for planted debris theory ?”
Not zero, but quite small.
jeffwise Posted June 9, 2016 at 10:24 AM wrote “With regards to the South Australia debris fragment, is it possible for a single aircraft to have “no step” written on it in different places in different fonts?”
Yes, I don’t remember seeing different fonts used in different areas; however, as one has aircraft parts built in many areas of the world; the parts come more and more pre-painted in some cases. The rudder would be a good example; installed pre-painted. The fuselage/ Vert. Stab. is almost always painted in Everett Washington after final assembly. Parts like the closer panels, built by vendors/suppliers, could easily be produced with slightly different markings; as long as they comply with design requirements.
@Ken Goodwin
A closing panel behind the aileron would have either part number 661 (with two letters) or 561.
The piece shows: ..1 FB.
The diagram I found shows the numbers but not the letters:
https://bookofresearch.wordpress.com/2015/07/29/mh370-all-about-the-reunion-island-debris/boeing-maintenance-manual/
Can you figure this out?
@Ge Rijn
Question: Am I right in thinking we have got all three closing panels? Showing varying degrees of damage?
@ Greg,
Thank you – that does solve the mystery!
@ Rob, Ge Rijn – occurs to me in terms of likelihood of finding two of something there are only three of (or six I suppose) – would it be more likely the panels are seat related? There are hundreds of those.
I’m not sure what a foam-free seat panel looks like though, or why it might have a seal. So will need to go and look that up.
Just thinking aloud.
@ myself
Actually it can’t be, its an outside surface, clearly, and I’m being stupid.
It just seems the odds are so weighted against finding two the same.
@KenGoodwin
@Ge Rijn
I think that panel (the one Blaine is holding with the seat back) is only smaller because it’s missing it’s outer part, ie it is more damaged than the other two panels.
The other closing panel found by Blaine is the one seen with the film crew, still with its seal attached.
@Rob @Susie
That would be a real mirakel won’t it.
Isn’t two the same enough for you? 😉
No I’m sure it’s not. Look well at Ken Goodwin’s photo in the hands of Blain Gibson. The trapezium shape is much smaller leading to a much smaller item in width.
And the other two panels have no numbers or letters, this one has.
But it seems to be again another wing piece.
The ‘chair piece’ is more disturbing to me though. If confirmed I think it could agian change the whole story.
Which is not a ‘bad thing’ offcourse if that would happen. It’s all about finding the truth and the plane in the end.
@Susie
If so it sure wouldn’t be as big a statistically highly unlikely coincidence for sure. But I’m confident these panels are not coming from seats and not from the cabin interior.
Confirmation offcourse is still not official at all.
@Susie
It’s incredible no less that three panels, most likely closing panels for the RH flaperon leading edge (my opinion) have all turned up.
@Ken Goodwin
Earlier it was noted that the plane was repainted by the carrier who used different fonts. Possible that they also added a word to the “No Step” missive?
@ROB,
I agree, but there are possible reasons for this coincidence. For example, they may have be drifting attached to each other, bashed against every non-hotspot beach, and only separated just before their beaching point. Even if they are not attached by fasteners, they could be held in a group by wiring or something.
The bigger mystery, to me, is why nothing else has shown up. If the three pieces traveled as a group, then we have one major piece of debris not counting the plastic interior parts.
If the three pieces arrived separately, we have three pieces, all from the same area traveling the same route. Either way, it’s suspicious and it suggests that none of the rest of the plane is/was adrift.
I’m not a huge fan of the plant theory, but it’s hard to rule out in all cases, especially for things like seats.
@Rob @others
It would be nice if R.Westcott (or others) could place a high res. picture of the back side of that bigger panel.
I’m sure we then could identify it 100% positive as being a same panel as the Mozambique panel (okey 99%..)
Rob, where is your talent for detail gone?
I guess you’re maybe a bit too excited now to see it with your previous clarity.. 😉
Take another look and compare on details.
I assume you will change your mind or come up with convincing observations.
@Cosmic:
Right you are, a cover-up from before the plane left the tarmac, from the time newbie ATCers were in the control tower. Whatever it was, it was significant.
@Bass Find
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_missing_aircraft
21Oct1978 Cessna 182L
As far as I remember nothing was found. Search called off.