Via alert reader @Susie, photos have emerged on Tanzanian social media of an object that looks very much like a control surface from an airliner. Here’s what Bing Translator makes of the original Kiswahili:
Wing of the plane have been conflict and civilians today in the Indian Ocean on the island of Kojani. Made known is what airlines.
A place where it is believed to the remains of the plane have been caught in the Indian Ocean Island beach in Kojani.
Wing of the plane was found in the island of Kojani, is eliciting a great debate among the inhabitants of the island with many believing it is the wing flight of malaysia which was lost without a known future. Airlines of Malaysia Airlines with type MH370, it had disappeared March 8 in 2014 has never been visible until today.
Though still no certainty is what bird fossils, experts of air travel have started initial stages of the investigation of the wreckage of the plane.
Reports say security officials already have started to investigate the wing and probably not long we get enough information from entities involved
Kojani is a small inhabited island near Pemba, about 50 nautical miles north of Zanzibar and 500 miles north of the beaches in Mozambique where MH370 debris has previously been found. It has been described as “one of the least accessible villages [of Pemba], located on an islet off the eastern coast of the main island. At the last count Kojani was home to more than nine thousand people.” While still south of the equator, it is by far the northernmost debris from MH370 identified so far, if that is indeed what it is.
Its appearance is strongly reminiscent of the flaperon found on Réunion island, although there seems to be none of the broken-off hinge attachments and so forth that were visible on the ends and underside of the flaperon. Also, there is a very visible waterline, which the flaperon lacked. It would be interesting to know if this waterline corresponds with that observed by the French investigators when they put the flaperon in their test tank in Toulouse.
So what is it, exactly? Commenter @Rob suggests it “Might be a piece of inboard flap.” @Ken Goodwin writes “Though the part has the shape of a wing part. It does not jog the memory. Closed large end with no fittings. Surface with no fittings. ???” Of course it might not be from MH370 at all. But if it is, it breaks from the recent trend of debris items being small enough to hold with one hand.
I hope that somehow this object finds its way into the hands of independent investigators who can examine it before it disappears into the black hole that is the Malaysian investigation.
UPDATE 6/24/16: New photos from Jamilforums below.
For references, here’s a shot of the outboard end of the right flaperon found on Réunion:
In both pieces it seems that the main structure is aluminum, with the curved leading edge made of composite material.
The left flaperon?
Bolt number 113W3004-10 is Boeing … aviationsourcingsolutions.com/manufacturer-b…
Try that link again
http://tinyurl.com/jg5cnk4
Repeat 113W3004-10 is a Boeing Bolt Part
Interesting news article on the find:
http://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/incidents/section-of-plane-wing-found-off-east-africa-could-be-from-mh370/news-story/96cb42a6a90c74e84cf29c0c8d7f5941?from=public_rss
You can see the first section of the outboard flap quite clear in following pictures.
The big hinge under it’s flap fairing is visible and part of the ‘clean’ edge on the other side:
http://www.lairdkay.com/exterior/wttp0n87b8nelmz927ix219g27j7zx
If you download the previous picture(s) and zoom in you can even clearly see that hince is exactly the same as on the first ‘Pemba piece’ photo.
I’m convinced this is the first section of the right wing outboard flap now.
Hope people double check.
News.com.au has a photo of the section with the stencil “676EB”.
Liam Lotter found a piece with the same stencil in South Africa. (posted on Jeff Wise March 10th)
“676EB” was identified on this site in March as an access panel hatch in the right-hand outboard flap of a 777.
Liam’s find is apparently a piece broken off from this one….
Here: http://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/incidents/section-of-plane-wing-found-off-east-africa-could-be-from-mh370/news-story/96cb42a6a90c74e84cf29c0c8d7f5941
@George Tilton, That’s just News.com.au being lazy and running a picture of Lötter’s piece instead of the object they were actually talking about.
At this point, though, it looks like the two pieces of debris might well come from spots very close together on the right wing, and also near the Réunion flaperon. Which might tell us something. Overall, the debris found so far does not seem randomly distributed from all around the airframe.
@Ge Rijn
excuse me but the 676EB was related in articles to flaperon found earlier or not?? I was for a while trying to find something related to outboard flap parts, but not sure, not enough info and although picture I posted first, the new flap in factory has some circle conture his on side but the Pemba part has some eliptic conture there (?) … fact is outboard flap profile seems to be similar in this video, but …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxqlUgwfJ3o
Sorry Jeff…I just realized that when I compared the news.com photo with the Lotter photo a few minutes before your response.
Should have been more careful before jumping in…
Great site!, been following this discussion for some time.
excuse me, 676EB not flaperon but something found at Mosambique few months back? but stil its weird as its marked as some flap support fairing?? according to this?
hope somebody qualifiaed in this and not me has more info; pls stop me, I am probably confusing things already
http://www.duncansteel.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Implications-from-the-Reunion-Debris-found-July-29.pdf
@falken
The flaperon found a few months back is identified in the 777 manual page at the link you supplied as 657. The 676 part that Lotter found is part of a “Wing Trailing Edge Flap Fairing” outboard from the flaperon and covers part of the right outboard flap 667 when the flap is retracted.
Lotter’s piece 676 actually encloses the flap actuator mechanism to deploy flap 667….I’m done…don’t want to confuse anybody with my ramblings anymore…
@falken
Yes the picture in the link you posted is somewhat different.
But in between I’m quite positive the found piece must be the first section of the right wing ouboard flap.
Confirmation still necessarry offcourse but I’m allready counting with it
Crossing fingers it might be the right piece found at the right time to positively inluence the talks about extending the search effort.
Hi guys, don’t know if it’s of any interest but I found a stainless
steel fridge about 8 km out to sea from my lodge in Chidenguele,Mozambique about three months ago.A day later found it washed up on the beach,still have it at my lodge.
If anyone of you guys are interested in doing any follow ups regarding this,you can contact me viA Facebook
@ Greg,
Many thanks for posting about the fridge. I don’t suppose you have any images of it, or a description (size etc)? Any markings or ID plates on it at all?
I’m not on Facebook (just twitter), but lots of the folk here are on both, so I’m sure they would be very interested to see pictures of it if FB is your preferred site.
Thanks again. Don’t go away!
Greg, I’ve messaged Jeff in case he hasn’t checked in here since you posted.
Think I have found your facebook page, so have sent him a link.
Obviously it might not be from the plane, but it is definitely worth checking out.
@Niu Yunu _ – If this latest piece is determined to have come from MH370 it increases the probability that the a/c crashed in the IO and is not sitting on a glacier up north.
The there will be those who will say the size of this piece proves it was pulled off during a controlled impact and others who will say the trailing edge broke off due to flutter and the rest was pulled due to high speed during a steep dive. If it’s the latter, that will increase the probability the plane is near the seventh arc.
@Greg Holwill
Found your facebook page too I guess. You live in Durban?
Can you upload a picture on your page of that ‘fridge’?
One of our friends from Twitter has been in touch with Greg Holwill, and advised him what to do.
I hope we hear something more about it.
@Susie, @Ge Rijn, I’ve been emailing with Greg Holwill. He’s going to his lodge in two weeks and will email me photos then.
@Ge Rijn:
RE the Tanzania debris – I think your first guess that it’s part of the inboard main flap is better. The outboard flap doesn’t have square ends because of the wing sweep angle.
Thanks Jeff, that’s excellent news. I’m curious about the science of buoyancy with regard to fridges – hopefully all will become clear!
@Gysbreght
No realy, I’m quite positive about this being the the first part of the right wing outboard flap.
I enhanced contrast and pixels in the first ‘Pemba piece’ photo and compared it with the the ‘Laird Key’ pictures I posted previously.
Downloaded the wing part picture on this site and zoomed in on the flap fairing and hinge attachement there.
Both hinges are just the same.
Other pictures show all fasteners rows and compartements fit also.
You can even see the area and line where the spoilers cover when this flap is extended and retrackted.
The square flat inboard end is fitting closely to the flaperon which outboard end seals seal the gap between those two flaps.
In this clip that @falken posted previous you can actualy see this moevement of both flaperon and outboard flap beside eachother:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXSPzXptto8
I don’t know exacly what you mean whith ‘no square ends because of the wing sweep angle’, can you explain better (for a dutch guy..:)?
#brexit last time /excuse me DrBobby/
as many people was put on WRONG way using the LIES of politics and there was lot of FEAR too…
where is the Constitution? where is the Queen?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5e0z1_uwHY
@Gysbreght
This video shows it even better and it’s a 777-200 (the previous was a 777-300). Start the clip after ~1 min. when flaps begin to deploy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxOskxXiYMk
@Susie
The science of buoyancy regarding to fridges..
I think you will be suprised a bit..
http://www.livescience.com/26372-fridge-tsunami-debris-hawaii.html
The inboard flap is rectangular in planform, i.e. the inboard and outboard ribs have the same length, and both are perpendicular to the leading and trailing edges.
The outboard flap is tapered, i.e. the outboard end is shorter than the inboard end. Wing sweep is the angle between the quarter chord line of the wing and the transverse (lateral) axis of the airplane which is perpendicular to the plane of symmetry. The ouboard flaps follow the sweep angle and taper of the wing. Its end ribs are oriented streamwise, parallel to the airplane’s plane of symmetry, i.e. at an oblique angle to the leading edge and trailing edge of the flap.
@all
Totally off topic.
The social media is overflowing with whiney Birtish millennials complaining how the older generation has compromised their future. It does not take VictorI or Hendrik to show that if the millennials actually got out and voted in the same numbers as the over 40 crowd, Brexit would have been easily defeated.
Funny stuff, complaining but not exercising your privilege to vote.
I took a haircut in the markets today, but comparing it to previous sell-offs it is somewhere between the Mexican Peso devaluation and the Russian bond default percentage wise. In other words, nobody much cares what happens in the UK whose GDP is about the same as California.
@Ge Rijn
If you could contain your enthusiasum long enough to actually
right click on the picture you are referring to, tell us all
the image info that identifies it (name of jpeg perhaps, etc.),
then maybe we could figure out exactly what you are seeing…
@Lauren H said
“The there will be those who will say the size of this piece proves
it was pulled off during a controlled impact and others who will
say the trailing edge broke off due to flutter and the rest was
pulled due to high speed during a steep dive”
Very perceptive. I guess I’m leaning into the latter viewpoint, (if
this is from 9M-MRO) – because (again) we see minimal damage to a
leading edge (except at the corners, where damage might be more
expected if the flap rotated slightly as it toreoff), also, again,
almost zero crumple damage to the flap, (you would expect it to be
crumpled if it was still on the aircraft when it impacted the ocean,
wouldn’t you?).
@ Susie
Very kind of GREG Holwill. But consider, one of their fridges fails
on some, say, Chinese fishing vessal, do they take it back to China?
Of course not, they throw it over the side of the ship…
ATSB informed me that they have more than one part number from the Tanzania debris, and Boeing is working to ID those numbers.
I agree that this piece, if it is from MH370, looks like an inboard aft flap, with part of the trailing edge missing. By scaling a few drawings and photos, I got an estimated size for the B777-200 inboard aft flap. It is ~18′ X 6′. That size looks close to what we see in the debris photos.
@airlandseaman
Thanks very much for this update. Can you please provide any insight on why there is a delay or even lack of interest in picking up the recent debris finds from Madagascar and also why there is such a delay in making public the analysis of debris finds this year; I assume ATSB et al. in Canberra have completed their testing long ago.
@ALSM
You would have us believe that Boeing is doing something useful?
How much longer than 20 seconds would it take someone at Boeing with computer access to validate a part number?
@AM2
My understanding (from Blaine) is that ATSB would love to get their hands on the new Madagascar debris, but Malaysian top dogs have twice cancelled the plans of Malaysian investigators to go pick up the debris. Read into that what you will.
As to why ATSB analysis seems to take so long to become public, I don’t know, but I would speculate it is due to 2 things. First, investigators naturally don’t like to make public anything until they are absolutely sure of the results, and second, Maylasia has the final say on when reports are published…and we all know what that means.
@airlandseaman
Thanks for your prompt reply. Hmmm. Not surprising given the behaviour we have been observing all along from Malaysia.
Bolt #113W3004-10 is confirmed from 777-200.
The search area is too far south, need private enterprise to take this over.
@ Buyerninety, re fridge – of course, we’ve no way to tell whether it’s relevant or not, without more information.
I’m happy to wait and see. It should be relatively easy to rule in or out, I hope.
@ ALSM – many thanks for the additional info. That’s really helpful. I wonder – it’s probably something political but if Malaysia doesn’t want Blaine’s stuff, perhaps the ATSB could go get it themselves? Or would that not be following protocol?
I can see at this juncture why Blaine might be circumspect about publishing these finds at all.
WRT Brexit – as a Brit I would love not to hear about it on here as well as ALL over the press, TV, UK social media. As far as I’m concerned it was an enormous straw man, it’s not even a legally binding vote, and we’ve all been set up quite horribly to cause maximum division and chaos, for some reason.
Most people didn’t have the intellect or political understanding to make a decent decision and it came down to a visceral, emotional response for many. Which is exactly what you don’t need when it matters this much (and to us, it certainly does, crappy GDP or not).
Cameron and all are playing a very dubious game.
It’s a nightmare.
Sorry for thread drift – that’s the last I’ll say about it.
Oh and Ge Rijn – that’s very good news to see how far a fridge can float!
@Gysbreght
Thanks for explaining.
I think the trailing edge of this piece is slightly tapered. From the pictures it’s hard to tell if the piece is overall square or tapered.
Anyway it will be confirmed soon since the ATSB allready has the numbers.
@buyerninety
I posted all links to the concerning pictures and videos and explained where to look and what I did to compare that hinge and othere features.
Have you taken notion?
If not I suggest you take a look first, do the work I did yourself and then come back on me.
@Susie
so sorry; at least, this petition goes up 1500 signs per minute just now
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/131215
By the way I think it’s not that important if it’s a part of an inboard flap or an outboard flap.
IMO the importance lies in the facts it’s another flap piece fairly intact with a partly broken off trailing edge and that it’s found in such a northerly latitude.
If confirmed this facts IMO highly enhance the probabilty the plane made a more or less (human) controlled ditch with flaps down in an area north of the current search zone.
IMO this is what the real importance of this piece will be and will therefore hopefully lead to an extending of the search effort.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Aa.b777-200er.n788an.mains.arp.jpg
The depth of the bracket at the far end of Jeff’s top photo is not evident in that above of (purportedly) a -200 rear inner flap (note the outer end of the flap on the other side under the fuselage).
Other observations. Heavy corrosion of the bracket is evident in later photos. There is no rail securing bracket evident at the near end in Jeff’s top photo, though it could have been torn off, bolt holes not showing up in the photo. The fracture at the trailing edge is different to flaperon’s. It has a different structure, cavity honeycomb filled.
Thanks, Falken – that’s good to see. When I signed it it was on about a thousand. Good.
The website was apparently down for much of yesterday, too.
___
Fwiw, I agree with those who consider the lack of compression damage to leading edges is significant.
@buyerninety
To your service I’ll post the link to the picture again with what I did to compare the hinge and overall shape and features with the first ‘Pemba piece’ photo.
I used other (links posted) photos and videos too but this one is the most telling:
http://www.lairdkay.com/exterior/huopf45fwb41vdxd0mil5cfokjq6hq
-right click the close up picture with the inboard flaps and landing gear and download.
-open the picture and zoom in 6x on the first flap fairing from the outboard flap where the hinge is visible. Hide this screen than open the first picture of the ‘Pemba piece’ (where it’s lying on the ground)
-enhange contrast of this picture and zoom in 3x on the hinge structure at the opposite end where that man is bending over it.
-compare the hinges in the two pictures
-compare fastener rows, the ‘clean edge’, overall shape, dimensions.
Then please share your opinion with me again.
@Ge Rijn
This from you;
http://www.lairdkay.com/exterior/wttp0n87b8nelmz927ix219g27j7zx
does not reference a specific picture, nor a specific part of a
picture. In fact, it (depending on the viewers computer), brings
up several pictures, or none at all.
My request to you was specific – it is your comprehension which
is lacking… do you see a reference to a specific jpeg (reread
my request) in your URL above?
@buyerninety
If you open the link in my previous post and wait for a moment the picture with the landing gear shows up (at least when I open the link).
The link you have in your post shows the underwing but if you just click on the left arrow mark the picture shows up too.
To be more complete I post another link again. Scroll down a bit for the wing picture:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/commercial-vehicles/175938-boeing-777-pilots-review-11.html
Here goes the same. Download it zoom in on the features as fastener rows, area with traces that is covered by the spoilers when the outboard flap is retracted, the hinge attachment at the fairing position, dimensions, overall shape, clean inboard edge etc.
And compare with the ‘Pemba piece’ photos.
Ok, without trying to raise your ire, I assume you are
referring to this picture..
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/attachments/commercial-vehicles/1511957d1464597528t-boeing-777-pilots-review-0818746.jpg
@buyerninety
And I would appreciate it you do not question my comprehension before you do your homework thoroughly yourself.
@buyerninety
Am I explaining to a child? 😉
Some further snippets from a Swahili news article today
http://www.muungwana.com/2016/06/wavuvi-kojani-waokota-bawa-la-ndege.html
Measured length 8 foot, 1 inch
Found in a “cave” (could mean overhang of eroded coral rag – common in this area). Thought by the fishmermen who found it to have been there for some time on account of the corrosion they observed.
Examination by air transport experts already underway