Replicas of debris to track MH370

The team searching for MH370 has constructed replicas of key wreckage from the jet to help scientists test ocean drift patterns.

Replicas of the MH370 flaperon that was found at Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean.

The team searching for MH370, has constructed replicas of a critical piece of wreckage from the Malaysia Airlines passenger jet to help scientists test ocean drift patterns which carried the flaperon to Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean.

MH370 disappeared with its 239 passengers and crew while on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014.

The flaperon, a control surface from the jet’s right wing, was found on a beach on the French island on July 29 last year after floating on ocean currents for more than a year.

Another part of the wing, a flap which would have been positioned next to the flaperon on the wing, was found some time later on the coast of the east ­African nation of Tanzania.

It is likely the wing was torn apart as the jet’s two giant ­engines hit the ocean surface at great speed.

Scientists from the CSIRO, working with the search co-ordinators from the Air Transport Safety Bureau, believe wreckage from the jet which remained afloat would have been carried by currents from the search area, off Western Australia, across the Indian Ocean towards Africa.

It is also possible some wreckage could have been swept across to the southern coast of Western Australia or towards Tasmania.

The CSIRO scientists have calculated likely drift patterns from 30 years of data collected by US counterparts who placed drift buoys throughout the oceans, including the search area waters.

To find a more precise starting point for the long drift of wreckage, scientists now need to compare the rate of movement and the general behaviour of the flaperon in the water with that of the American buoys.

The search team has constructed several replica flaperons, fitted with transmitters, which will be set adrift alongside free-floating buoys. Scientists will plot courses and speed of both.

The first of these tests will be carried out off Tasmania. CSIRO scientists will then add to the new information to known drift patterns of the buoys.

They believe that will give a better idea of where the real ­flaperon began its journey in the seconds after MH370 hit the water.

To help build on the tiny fragments of evidence about the resting place of MH370, scientists have also examined marine life scraped from the recovered ­flaperon to calculate the latitude at which barnacles began growing as it floated.

Analysis by the Defence ­Science and Technology group of several sets of signals transmitted automatically by the jet indicates MH370 fell rapidly into the ocean after running out of fuel. That scenario is supported by all members of an international advisory group who examined the data and the Australian scientists’ conclusions.