Possible Boeing 777 Part Found Off Mozambique

[Yankee Whisky]

Sorry for error posting

Originally Posted by OXCART

Thats not it. That's the Flaperon found on Reunion Island in July 2015.

https://twitter.com/RadiantPhysics/s...75801008373760

https://twitter.com/RadiantPhysics/s...16445420556288

https://twitter.com/RadiantPhysics/s...08219648036864

Indeed and I stand to be corrected. The "No Step" part certainly looks very clean, but that could be caused by sand and the part's movements in waves.

[jfill]

Debris Location

From this link it looks like the new debris was found just off the coast of Mozambique near the town of Vilankulos and south of Benguerra Island.

http://www.society-magazine.fr/wp-co...3/Blaine-4.jpg

Paluma Sandbank
Latitude: 22° 2'57.87"S
Longitude: 35°30'22.81"E

[I spy]

No Step

Does anyone have a schematic showing all "No Step" locations on a B777?

[CONSO]

VS-HL1013 HI LOK

For those who wonder what the VS stands for - the answer is VOI-SHAN a long time supplier of aerospace standard fasteners.

The HL1013- 6 means simply a 6AL-4V TITANIUM FASTENER 6/32 DIA ( 3/16 )

Thousands of those in 3/16 to 3/8 diameter have been used on most every model and manufacturer of airplanes or missiles for decades. They are batch inspected and certified, and carry NO serial or batch number.

I mention this only to tamp down the ' can we trace that fastener to a particular part or airplane or location ?"


The answer is NO (absent ID of surrounding part(s) )-

There is Nothing unique about that particular fastener oher than its material compared to others of high strength steel (s).

[PoppaJo]

You've got 9 Markings on each horizontal stab.

I'd say it looks pretty credible from having flown it in the past, looking at the size of I'd be leaning towards the leading edge part of the horizontal stabiliser, more inner pieces towards the fin.

[deanm]

50:50?

Reports are emerging that this debris *may* be part of the leading edge of the right horizontal stabiliser: Link

Given that the previously-recovered flaperon is confirmed as coming from the right hand wing, it is overly-tempting to speculate as to what the aircraft might have been doing (or its orientation) when these detached.

Had this ('likely') 2nd bit of airframe come from the opposite side, such speculation would be harder to entertain: 50:50 chance or some other indication...

Dean

It may also be noteworthy that the Dec. 2015 JACC/ATSB report proposed that the right-hand engine would probably be the 1st to flame-out in a fuel-starvation scenario, with the left-hand engine delivering thrust for up to a further 15 minutes.

[AreOut]

same font as MH17

mh17-onderzoek-8.jpg

[Delta Torque]

As someone mentioned, this recent piece has no barnacle encrustation. You could speculate an inflight breakup, and this piece falling on the land, and not spending any time in the sea.


A major coincidence though, with the blogger finding the piece.

[Abelard]

" falling on the land, and not spending any time in the sea"

Or washing up relatively quickly, and going undiscovered until now...though that seems unlikely given the proximity of the two sites.

[Airbubba]

Originally Posted by susier

Some close up photographs posted on Twitter by Victor Iannello:


https://twitter.com/RadiantPhysics?lang=en-gb


If this is indeed the part, it shows a notable absence of barnacle colonisation compared to the flaperon.

Originally Posted by Delta Torque

As someone mentioned, this recent piece has no barnacle encrustation. You could speculate an inflight breakup, and this piece falling on the land, and not spending any time in the sea.


A major coincidence though, with the blogger finding the piece.

Victor Iannello's twitter feed linked in susier's post has a recent CNN phone interview with Blaine Alan Gibson where Mr. Gibson is not overly convinced that his discovery is a part of the missing MH370 aircraft.

I find it more than a little suspicious that Gibson charters a boat in Africa to look for MH370 debris and the boat owner finds this apparent aircraft piece himself and calls Gibson to come see. Is this perhaps a piece from a recent African crash that was placed on the sandbar to be 'discovered' by the visitor?

[Vinnie Boombatz]

Gibson was apparently on the boat, which he had hired. The artifact was first seen by the boat's owner, according to this Google Translate version of part of the link posted by jfill, 2nd Mar 2016, 21:22 :

MH370 : un nouveau débris au Mozambique ? | Society Magazine

" 'I was traveling to Mozambique, he recounts today for the first time in Maputo I took the opportunity to say: why not not rent a boat and take a day to inspect the coast?'

Hours after his departure with three Mozambicans, the owner of the boat, 'Junior', calls Blaine. 'He pointed a finger something. It was a piece of plastic, light enough. Above, it is registered NO STEP '. The piece, triangular, measuring 94 centimeters wide and 60 centimeters high. It seems, says Blaine Gibson, come 'from the wing of an airplane.' "

[rockdoc]

Originally Posted by Vinnie Boombatz

Gibson was apparently on the boat, which he had hired. The artifact was first seen by the boat's owner, according to this Google Translate version of part of the link posted by jfill, 2nd Mar 2016, 21:22 :

MH370 : un nouveau débris au Mozambique ? | Society Magazine

" 'I was traveling to Mozambique, he recounts today for the first time in Maputo I took the opportunity to say: why not not rent a boat and take a day to inspect the coast?'

Hours after his departure with three Mozambicans, the owner of the boat, 'Junior', calls Blaine. 'He pointed a finger something. It was a piece of plastic, light enough. Above, it is registered NO STEP '. The piece, triangular, measuring 94 centimeters wide and 60 centimeters high. It seems, says Blaine Gibson, come 'from the wing of an airplane.' "

At least someone is actively looking in likely places wreckage will wash up.

I wonder if that is a smaller fragment of a larger piece that may have broken up in surf?

[Airbubba]

Gibson sounds pretty skeptical in the CNN interview:

Gibson told CNN his "heart was pounding" when he first saw the wreckage, but expressed caution.

"The chances are pretty slim that it's the plane we are interested in," he said.

In the true journalistic tradition of keeping an open mind the CNN headline is 'MH370: Likely piece of doomed plane found, U.S. official says'.

MH370: Likely piece of doomed plane found - CNN.com

[deanm]

Can any of you aeronauts shed light on why the media are typically referring to this new debris as being from the 'fixed leading edge'?

I thought the entire horizontal tailplane (aka 'horizontal stabiliser') was trimmable (i.e. a THS).

Dean

PS: No jokes please about it once being 'broken' & now 'fixed', thanks...

[andrasz]

I'm sure the material, the remaining fastener as well as the position and spacing of the fastener holes would enable any expert to uniquely identify the aircraft model with no ambiguity. Similarly any marine biologist should be able to confirm or deny whether the piece spent a significant time in seawater or not.

Unfortunately even if it does get confirmed that it is a T7 part, and by inference almost 100% certain that it is from MH370, it gives almost no further information compared to what we already knew from the flaperon (except corroborating that evidence).

[MrPeabody]

Deanm,

The reference to fixed leading edge is to the permanently fastened panel sections (with hi-loks) as opposed to the removable access panels.

On the B777 there are fixed fiberglass panels between the stab leading edge and the torsion box; these are what they are referring to.

Not sure if the panels are fiberglass with aluminium honeycomb though. I thought the B777 doesn't use this type of honeycomb.

Can anyone shed light on the panel structure?

Peabody

[deanm]

Thanks PB - I think it might be useful to identify just where this 'No Step' region is located, but from your clarification (& if the media are using 'fixed' accurately [!!]), it sounds like it originates close to the aft fuselage, rather (say) mid-span.

'I Spy' (post #23) asked "Does anyone have a schematic showing all "No Step" locations on a B777?"

I second that.

Dean

[MrPeabody]

Deanm,

Generally the entire area outside the main torsion box is "no step".

Peabody

[Mike Flynn]

BBC showing this

[deanm]

PB - understood, but the 'No Step' stenciling provides a convenient physical locator tag.

Dean