Accident investigators appeared tantalizingly close to
determining whether a piece of plane debris belongs to Malaysia
Airlines Flight 370, but still faced a long and complex process in
trying to solve one of the world's greatest aviation mysteries.
The investigators, who face intense international pressure to
provide answers to families in more than a dozen countries, are
rushing to confirm whether the aircraft remnant found on a remote
island in the Indian Ocean came from the Boeing 777 that
disappeared over a year ago—as most industry and government
officials suspect.
But the debris, which measures about 10 feet by 5 feet and is
consistent with the design of a 777 part, won't arrive at a French
aeronautics lab for analysis until at least the weekend, officials
said.
The plane's prolonged exposure to ocean water could also have
eroded clues to determine the origin of the component, a European
safety expert said. Based on photos of the recovered piece, two
aircraft engineers familiar with the Boeing model said a tag that
generally contains key manufacturer information appeared to be
missing.
French authorities in Ré union, the tiny island east of
Madagascar where the debris washed ashore, were also examining a
suitcase from the same beach for possible links to Flight 370.
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 is believed to have crashed in the
Indian Ocean after veering sharply off its intended flight path
from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people onboard.
Little is known about why the plane was taken off course, but
officials suspect there was a deliberate action by a person or
people aboard the plane with extensive knowledge of the aircraft
and its systems. A Malaysian-led investigation of crew and
passengers hasn't identified any suspects.
For over a year, searchers have focused on a 23,200 square-mile
search area off the western coast of Australia, thousands of miles
to the east of Ré union Island.
The search until now has been largely based on analysis of radar
data, likely aircraft performance and satellite communications.
France's defense ministry said the piece—known as a flaperon,
which acts as one of the wing's control surfaces—would be assessed
at an aeronautical technology center in Toulouse that has
previously aided civil and military crash investigations.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak on Thursday said the part
was "very likely" from a Boeing 777, though he held off on
establishing a link to Flight 370. Malaysia, which has led the
crash probe, is sending teams to Ré union and Toulouse.
Establishing a link with the lost Boeing jetliner would only be
a first step in the probe. Experts would then try to gain
information about the last moments of the flight and try to
reconstruct how and where the plane went down.
Scientists and engineers using computer-assisted electron
microscopes have made huge strides over recent years in gleaning
information from even such relatively small structural pieces of
aircraft. By examining the points at which the piece ruptured—and
the precise way the metal tore apart—metallurgists and
investigators often can deduce vertical speed, the extent of
lateral forces, whether the wings were level and various other
vital details.
"I'm always amazed at what metallurgists are able to do with
analyses of ruptures and fissures," said industry consultant Nick
Sabatini, the former top safety official at the U.S. Federal
Aviation Administration. "They can tell quite a bit from even a
small part."
When Air France Flight 447 crashed into the Atlantic in 2009 on
its way to Paris from Rio de Janeiro, damage to items on the plane
gave investigators an early clue about how it hit the water. The
recovered items were far larger and numerous, though, than the
single structural part found in Ré union.
And investigators in the Malaysian case could face complicating
factors that could slow their efforts, safety experts said. A
remnant of Flight 370 would likely show some oxidation or other
damage from drifting in the water for roughly 500 days, making it
more difficult to assess.
"Immersion in the sea and the temperature of the water
definitely can have some impact" on the condition of debris,
according to Robert MacIntosh, the former top international
official at the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board.
Oxidation or corrosion can occur depending on the type of aluminum
alloy, he said, though metallurgists would know how to deal with
such conditions.
Typically, early metallurgical findings are available within a
day or two. But when it comes to the part expected to be examined
by an international team led by French authorities, veteran
accident investigators emphasized it could take several days or
longer to get preliminary laboratory results.
Robert Matthews, a former high-ranking FAA accident exert, said
the investigators should at least be able to ascertain how the
flaperon separated from the wing. Given the global attention to
Flight 370 Mr. Matthews said he would be surprised "if any of the
agencies go too far in their conclusions."
When investigators start analyzing the part, Malaysian officials
are expected to participate, and the U.S. safety board is likely to
have someone in the laboratory as an observer, according to U.S.
industry officials tracking the investigation.
Regardless of what the metallurgists find, investigators would
require significantly more debris or other data before making any
definitive statements about the nature of the crash. "If they find
another part, it could add to what they have learned," helping
investigators assemble a broader picture of how the plane entered
the water, Mr. Sabatini said.
Johnny Begue, who discovered the airplane debris on a beach in
the French island of Ré union, said that he found part of the
shredded suitcase about 8 feet away from the flaperon on
Wednesday.
There was no indication yet that the two items were connected,
Mr. Begue said in a telephone interview. "It could have been thrown
into the sea from the beach."
The suitcase will be sent to France along with the plane part, a
spokeswoman for the Paris prosecutor's office said. The items
wouldn't leave Ré union before Friday evening, she said.
If the debris turns out to be from Flight 370, searchers would
be able to track back across the ocean from Ré union to give a
rough indication of where it came from, according to David Griffin,
a physical oceanographer at Australia's national science agency,
the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization.
But pinpointing a precise location would be impossible, he
said.
A positive link of the items recovered to Flight 370 would also
likely reinvigorate the undersea search for the downed plane.
Australian officials have previously said the search would be
called off if the plane isn't found within the current search zone
or if no further evidence comes to light. "If there is wreckage on
Ré union Island, that is certainly going to add impetus to the
search," Australia's deputy prime minister, Warren Truss, said
Thursday.
Jon Ostrower and Rachel Pannett contributed to this article.
Write to Andy Pasztor at andy.pasztor@wsj.com, Robert Wall at
robert.wall@wsj.com and Inti Landauro at inti.landauro@wsj.com
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