Aircraft debris raises questions over MH370 resting place

Aircraft debris found on a remote beach in north Queensland has triggered new speculation over the MH370’s final resting place.

Debris similar to an aircraft’s trim tab has been found by an avionics engineer, while fishing at Cape Tribulation. Picture: Mick Elcoate

The discovery of various items of aircraft debris on a remote beach at Cape Tribulation in far north Queensland has triggered a new round of speculation about the MH370’s final resting place.

Part of the wing, covered in shells and barnacles, and other items were spotted over the weekend by a Cairns’ avionics technician who was fishing in the area.

Mick Elcoate said his first thought was that the items were from a boat, and he posted the images on an engineers’ page on Facebook to try to determine what they might be.

“Everyone was going crazy for it, saying it’s a trim tab (from an aircraft),” Mr Elcoate told The Australian.

Possible aircraft debris found on a remote beach at Cape Tribulation in far north Queensland. Picture: Mick Elcoate

“It does look a lot like that, so it would be interesting to know where it came from.”

He said the pieces appeared to be made of fibre glass and looked to have been in the water for a substantial amount of time.

Mr Elcoate’s images have since been shared by the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association page, alongside a picture of a Boeing 737 wing, highlighting similarities.

AOPA executive director Ben Morgan said the parts needed to be examined by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau.

“If it was MH370 it would turn everything on its head,” Mr Morgan said.

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 which went missing is seen here during take off in March, 2011.

“The only other Boeing aircraft to crash in this part of the world, was the 737 Max in 2018.”

The ATSB had been made aware of the debris and late on Tuesday a spokesman said they had examined the images and did not believe the objects were relevant to any current or previous investigation “including the missing Boeing 777 flight MH370”.

“In line with standard protocols, the ATSB has contacted Boeing to help identify the object and if it is determined to be of potential interest will make arrangements for its recovery for further analysis,” the spokesman said.

Aviation researcher Mick Gilbert said the debris was most probably not from a 777, and was certainly not the trim tab because that aircraft type did not have one on the elevator.

“The part (in the picture) shows nowhere near enough weathering, has relatively sparse barnacle growth and is almost certainly the wrong colour,” Mr Gilbert said.

“If it is indeed an aircraft component it is more likely to be a piece of Air Niugini flight 73 that landed short of the runway at Chuuk International airport back in September 2018.”

The Air Niugini aircraft involved in the crash was a Boeing 737.

Michael Gilbert in a Boeing 737 simulator.

Parts confirmed as coming from the missing Malaysia Airlines flight have previously been found near Reunion Island in the western Indian Ocean, and along the coast of Africa.

The flight disappeared on March 8, 2014, with 239 people on board including six Australians.

Despite an exhaustive underwater search over a vast area of the southern Indian Ocean, the fuselage of the plane has never been found.

The search was officially suspended in March 2018 with Malaysia, Australian and Chinese authorities vowing only to continue if solid evidence was made available about the plane’s whereabouts.