A 32″×28” piece of debris washed ashore in Madagascar following a tropical storm in March 2017.

In November 2022, MH370 expert Blaine Gibson found the item with other marine debris and realized that it looked similar to other pieces of Malaysia Airlines MH370 found in the Indian Ocean.

The object has not been formally analyzed, but Gibson and others believe that it belongs to the Boeing 777 plane’s landing gear. Deep cuts on the item serve as evidence that the landing gear was most likely deployed before the crash.

Richard Godfrey, a British engineer working on the investigation, said, “The realistic possibility that the landing gear was lowered shows both an active pilot and an attempt to ensure the plane sank as fast as possible after impact.​”

This demonstrates that evidence of the crash may have been intentionally hidden either by pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah or another unknown pilot.

The analysis also shows that the plane’s flaps were not extended, the usual procedure for a sea landing.

A document from the Malaysian police force that was published in New York Magazine showed that Shah had performed a simulated flight into the Indian Ocean several weeks before the plane’s disappearance.

However, the FBI stated that the data still remains inconclusive and is likely circumstantial.

Since MH370’s disappearance in March 2014, families and friends of the plane’s lost passengers have searched for information from the airlines and the Malaysian government.

There have been many theories regarding the aircraft’s disappearance, including an in-flight fire similar to Swissair Flight 111 in 1998.

Large-scale searches across the Indian Ocean have not proved successful.

The marine robotics company Ocean Infinity took over the investigation from government-financed efforts in 2018. According to CEO Oliver Plunket, a new search is expected to start in 2023 or 2024.

The pilot reportedly practiced a “suicide route” on his at-home flight simulator.

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