Not Unusual For Lightweight Debris To Float On Sea Indefinitely, Say Experts

By Norshazlina Nor'azman KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 7 (Bernama) -- Seventeen months after its disappearance, Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has returned to hit the headlines in newspapers, news portals and television news bulletins all over the world. The deep mystery surrounding the disappearance of the aircraft on March 8 last year may finally be unravelled with the discovery of a two-metre-long wing part called a flaperon on the shores of the French-governed island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean. Early Thursday morning, Prime Minister Najib Razak announced that the part was indeed from MH370. While the grieving families and friends of the 239 passengers and crew members on board the ill-fated flight are struggling to come to terms with the confirmation, they know at least that they are getting closer to the truth about what had happened to the aircraft. TYPHOONS, ROUGH SEAS It is a known fact that the flight had ended in the southern Indian Ocean, indicating that the flaperon had travelled some 4,000 kilometres before turning up on Reunion Island. On whether it was possible for the aircraft part to float on sea over such a long distance, hydrography survey and ocean floor mapping expert Prof Dr Mohd Razali Mahmud said based on the Indian Ocean's geography and weather conditions, it was not impossible for a flaperon or small-sized debris to remain afloat for a long time. He explained that the rough and unpredictable weather there, coupled with the typhoons that occurred in the area frequently, often resulted in powerful waves which cause objects to be hurled from one place to another. "In the open waters of the Indian Ocean and with the help of the strong winds and waves, it's not impossible for lightweight objects to float over long distances. "Estimating that it (flaperon from MH370) travelled eight kilometres a day, I don't see how it couldn't have come from the aircraft," Mohd Razali, who is attached to Universiti Teknologi Malaysia's Skudai, Johore (Malaysia's southern state), campus, said when contacted by Bernama. It has been reported that flaperons were made of light composite material and contain air pockets, which enable them to float on water. NARROW DOWN SEARCH AREA Mohd Razali said although the MH370 flaperon was found in a location far away from the search area in the southern Indian Ocean, the discovery however proved that the flight had indeed ended in the Indian Ocean. He did not discount the possibility of floating debris being found in other places, apart from the location where the flaperon was discovered. "The strong winds and waves allow lightweight aircraft parts, as well as luggage pieces, to go on floating... it's impossible to find all the debris in one location, more so if the plane had crashed into the ocean as the impact could have caused the debris to disperse in various directions," he said. Mohd Razali said now that the flaperon and other debris suspected to be from MH370 had been found, it would make sense for the search authorities to narrow down their search to a smaller area, away from the original site. "Search operations must be carried out more thoroughly so that more debris can be located. Their discovery will help investigators to solve the puzzle and establish the pattern in which the plane went down," he added. LEARN FROM QZ8501 Universiti Kuala Lumpur's Malaysian Institute of Aviation Technology principal specialist, Ahmad Maulan Bardai, also agreed with Mohd Razali's assertion that it was not impossible for lightweight aircraft parts to float in the ocean indefinitely. He said in the case of AirAsia Indonesia flight QZ8501, which crashed in the Java Sea last Dec 28 in stormy weather with 162 people on board, just days after the tragedy, pieces from the wreckage were seen floating some 1,000 kilometres from where the plane had crashed. "Some debris from the flight ended up in Sulawesi a few days after the crash. The objects managed to remain afloat despite the possibility of them being entangled in the many islands dotting the South China Sea. "In the vast open seas of the Indian Ocean, all the more it's possible for debris to float (over long distances)," he said. There was also a strong possibility of pieces of wreckage from MH370 being washed up on the shores of remote islands in the Indian Ocean, he added. PINPOINT ACTUAL LOCATION OF PLANE Ahmad Maulan said even if the debris had ended up in those islands, the inhabitants who stumbled upon them could have disregarded them as garbage. "They wouldn't have had the faintest idea that the debris actually belonged to an aircraft," he said, adding that the current search mission should shift closer to the area where the MH370 flaperon was discovered. "Right now, the most challenging task at hand is pinpointing the actual location of the plane... more discoveries of pieces of the wreckage will make it easier to detect where the plane is lying," he added. On March 8 last year, the Beijing-bound Boeing 777-200ER aircraft disappeared from the radar about 49 minutes after taking off from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 12.41am. Seventeen days after its disappearance, Najib announced that flight MH370 had ended in the southern Indian Ocean, based on United Kingdom-based global satellite communications firm Inmarsat and UK air accident investigators' analysis of the data relayed between the plane and ground station by satellite. -- BERNAMA