The ominous and mysterious jigsaw puzzle that is MH370 may have another piece.  Authorities in Mozambique have displayed a tiny bit of composite white material they say may have come from the Boeing 777.  It’s a smidgeon of a thing, really really small.

Take a look at the image here.

That’s after a flaperon from a 777 washed up on the island of Reunion last year – more than a year after Malaysian Airlines MH370 vanished with all on board.

There’re still a few lunatics who believe that the crew and passengers are being squirrelled away by some nebulous US/Chinese/Malaysian/Afghanistani/Pakistani etc group.  But for the rest of us who live on the planet full-time,  the plane crashed into the Indian Ocean around 7 hours after it took off.  Speculation would have it that the pilot probably drove the thing South Westerly then settled the aircraft gently upon the water so only a few bits broke off.  Why?  For a host of personal and political reasons that we won’t go into here.  If you’re interested, read my previous blog. 

No aviation mystery since Amelia Earheart has been as pervasive and extensive.  If you remember the terrible Air France 447 disappearance there was not much real mystery about its fate.  Bobbing bits of plane appeared shortly after it disappeared a few hours out of Rio de Janeiro en route to France.  In the case of MH370, not much has appeared besides the flaperon which investigators say its more than likely from the Boeing.

A small triangle of composite washed up off Mozambique with “Don’t Step” clearly emblazoned on the top.  So the president of Mozambique’s Civil Aviation Institute (IACM), Joao de Abreu, told journalists on Thursday 3rd March it may be from the airliner – but warned that any speculation it was definitely linked was premature.

 

That’s wise.  Unlike the flaperon,  the bit of what could be horizontal stabiliser appears to have no sea-life growing on its upper or lower area.  The flaperon on the other hand had drifted around the sea for a year before it washed up in Reunion.  Marine biologists said the barnacles found on the flaperon were more than likely proof it had been in the water around a year.  And aviation experts confirmed it was indeed a Boeing 777 flaperon.

In this instance,  none of this is apparent.

One thing is, however.  The currents and winds would be able to push this piece from the Indian Ocean off Australia all the way to Mozambique.  That is not being debated.

On March 8 its the two-year anniversary of the plane’s disappearance while on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 passengers and crew aboard.  That timing alone is pretty cruel for the family of those on board.