MH370 Update: Did Plane Land On Water? Wing Flaperon May Prove Either Way

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 could have crashed in the western Indian Ocean near Reunion Island, where debris, including a wing component, was recently found.

MH370 Update: Did Plane Land On Water

A Boeing 777 wing part known as the flaperon was found on the Reunion shoreline by beach cleaners. Since MH370 is the only known flight to have gone down over water, officials are inclined to believe that the flaperon belonged to the missing plane. It will soon be tested at a French lab. “If there is a reference number on the debris, a correlation can be made immediately,” Jean Paul Troadec, the former head of the Bureau of Investigation and Analysis, told NBC News. Troadec added that investigators will also be looking to determine the length of time the flaperon was in the sea, which could be determined by the barnacles and seashells found on the object. “The seashells or barnacles will play an important role in determining how long this piece of plane has been submerged underwater,” Troadec explained. “Seashells grow at a certain rhythm and depending on their size can tell investigators if they have been breeding 12 months or 2 years.”

Family members of those who were aboard Flight MH370 and have been presumed perished are eager to know exactly what happened to the plane. “The preference would be to get a direct, physical link between this flaperon and MH370″ in order to give “absolute certainty to the families,” Martin Dolan, the head of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, told CNN. “If we can’t do that, then obviously, we’ll have to find a way of eliminating all other possibilities.”

Flight MH370 went missing March 8, 2014 with 239 people aboard.