When one considers the container of plastic ducks which was lost in the Pacific, and all the different places those ducks have been found, it can be seen that trying to determine where the shipping container was originally lost from the current location of a single duck wild be a very difficult task. In the same way, backtracking one single B777 flaperon simply from its current location, given that the date it arrived there is in some doubt, would be nearly impossible. The barnacles are probably the best indicator.
With regard to the time taken to positively identify the flaperon as belonging to MH370, the authorities will be wanting to ensure they can say in all certainty that this was definitely the flaperon that took off with that aeroplane on that particular flight. If I were the French authorities, I would want to:
- Compare it to flaperons from the same batch to ascertain machining marks and component materials match (electron microscopes can be used to do the latter).
- Check any issues which resulted in Non-Conformance Reports (NCRs) which apply to that batch can be identified (as has been mentioned earlier).
None of this can be done in a couple of days.