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MISSING FLIGHT MH370

AIRCRAFT

French probe of possible MH370 plane part begins

UPDATED: Experts in France began examining a washed-up plane part Wednesday which likely belonged to the MH370 plane that vanished mysteriously last year, hoping to find clues to one of aviation's greatest enigmas.

French probe of possible MH370 plane part begins
Investigators arrive at the site in Toulouse where they will probe the plane part washed up on Reunion. Photo: Richard Bouhet/AFP

The Malaysia Airlines jet disappeared on March 8 last year, inexplicably veering off course en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board, sparking a colossal but ultimately fruitless multinational hunt for the

aircraft.

But last week's discovery of a two-metre-long (almost seven-foot) wing part called a flaperon on the French Indian Ocean island of La Reunion raised fresh hopes for relatives desperate for answers.

French and Malaysian experts including Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, the head of the Asian country's civil aviation watchdog, arrived at a laboratory in the southern French city of Toulouse on Wednesday for the tests.

A judicial source said the examination of the wing part began shortly afterwards.

French, Malaysian and Australian experts, Boeing employees and representatives from China — the country that lost the most passengers in the disaster — were all due to be present.

A source close to the case said a full probe of the wing part would “likely take at least a few days.”




Paint, traces of explosion?

Jean-Paul Troadec, former chief of France's BEA agency that probes air accidents, said the analysis would focus on two issues — whether the flaperon belongs to MH370 and if so, whether it can shed light on the plane's final moments.

He said the paint on the piece was one key element of the probe.

“Every airline paints their planes in a certain way,” he said. “If the paint used is used by Malaysia Airlines… there may be more certainty.”

Pierre Bascary, former director of tests at the French Defence Procurement Agency, where the analysis will take place, added that the airline may have written maintenance information on the piece such as “Do Not Walk”.

“The phrase used and the way it was written also gives an idea of the origin of the plane,” he said.

Australia's Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss, meanwhile, said drift modelling performed by the national science agency confirmed debris could have been carried by wind and currents to La Reunion, some 4,000 kilometres (2,500 miles) from the region where MH370 was thought to have gone down.

Xavier Tytelman, an expert on aviation security, told RTL radio the wing part was already widely believed to be part of MH370, and experts were looking for “legal evidence”.

But crucially, the debris could also yield information on the final moments of the plane.

Troadec said experts would examine the way the part detached itself from the wing.

“Was it in a violent impact with the sea or not?” he said. “This piece looks like it is in good condition, it doesn't look like the part of a plane that fell vertically in the water at 900 kilometres (600 miles) an hour.”

He added that experts may also look for traces of an explosion or fire.  

Scientists have pointed to the barnacles attached to the flaperon, saying these could give an idea of how long the piece has been in the water, and perhaps where it has been.

“If it has cold-water barnacles on it that might tell them it went down further south than they think. Or if it's got only tropical barnacles, that might tell them it went down further north,” said Shane Ahyong, a crustacean specialist from the Australian Museum.

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AIRCRAFT

Has a Lancaster bomber been discovered under Denmark’s seas?

A World War 2 aircraft may have been found at the bottom of the sea near the Danish island of Langeland.

Has a Lancaster bomber been discovered under Denmark’s seas?
Photo: Foto-VDW/Depositphotos

The aircraft, discovered in waters off the southern tip of the island, could be a Lancaster, a British bomber used during the 1939-45 war.

Denmark’s Navy has issued a temporary ban on diving, fishing, sailing or anchoring in the area due to the possibility of live ammunition being amongst the wreckage, vice commander of the Royal Danish Navy’s diving unit Bo Petersen told Ritzau.

“We received a civilian report that a diver had seen what looked like the wreckage of an old aircraft. It is probably a Lancaster bomber down there. The diver said there were also objects that could be bombs. We are responding to that,” Petersen said.

The vice commander stressed that the identity of the airplane was yet to be confirmed.

“We can’t go out and check what we’ve been told because there is too much wind and high waves,” he said on Sunday.

But a Navy diving team would be despatched at the earliest possible juncture, he added.

In a tweet, the Danish military confirmed investigation would take place “in the coming days”.

“We’ll dive down to the wreckage and conduct a thorough investigation of the surrounding area for ammunition. We will thereby be able to state whether the area can be re-opened or whether we need to remove the ammunition to make the area secure,” Petersen said.

The Lancaster, a four-engine British bomber, was first produced in 1941.

According to British Royal Air Force figures, 7,377 Lancasters in total were made. After the war, they were used as reconnaissance aircraft until 1956.

There are now only two airworthy examples of the aircraft in the world – one in Canada and one in the UK.

Although the discovery in Danish waters is highly unusual, Petersen noted that a bomber aircraft was also found in the area during the construction of the Great Belt Bridge in the late 1990s.

READ ALSO: Danish schoolboy finds buried German WW2 aircraft and pilot

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