It is happening again. Not only is there an inordinate delay in identifying the flaperon of MAS Flt 370 or in plainer terms, wing debris but no one is any wiser as to what occurred for the plane to disappear so completely.
There was a surge of interest when the piece was found. But now it is possible the piece is a part of specially built surfboard and the other debris washed onto Reunion island is from a sunken barge whose captain himself has acknowledged that possibility.
This option brings the search back to square one.
The Australians who have doggedly refused to give up hope this past year have trawled the waters of the Indian Ocean with no indication where the aircraft is.
For most experts the fact that over such a long time no debris from a flight has risen to the surface. Between luggage, seats, insulation and tons of cargo something should been visible. There is just no precedent to such a vanishing.
The details of the suitcase picked up from the ocean have not yet been made public and whatever did come ashore has not pointed close enough in any direction to where the plane could have possibly gone down.
Consequently, even if the aircraft wing piece is confirmed as coming from the ill fated flight the search grid has not changed and ocean currents could have taken the debris thousands of miles away from the site.
Experts have begun to re-examine the possibility that the eight controlled but unexplained turns the plane took meant it vectored under the command of a human hand and did not fly six hours on its own.
That is a long time to fly off course and not be tracked and also, in many ways, makes a mockery of air security. The Triple Seven leaves a large enough signature in the air.
So, did whoever was on the Flight deck purposely fly this aircraft into the sea after dilly dallying for six hours and making no contact in that time with ground control.
It makes no sense but what makes even less sense is the fact that an aircraft that was involved in erratic maneuver’s that took it off the charted course also disappeared without a trace. What are odds on such a coincidence.
Even if we assume that the person at the controls having incapacitated the flying crew wanted to crash the plane why would he wait six hours and then land it on water in such a fashion that the plane’s integrity was not compromised and it sank with everyone on board without breaking up.
Even so, over a year, the water pressure would have crumpled the hull and sent materials to the surface.
The irony is that neither the airline nor the manufacturer nor the air accident investigators can get on the same page with a plausible theory.
