Winnipeg Free Press

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Pointe West Autopark 50- 3965 Portage Ave Tel: 1- 888- 885- 1937 birchwoodnissan. ca Dealer Permit #: 0086 S AINT- ANDRE, R�union - A sea- crusted wing part washed up on an island in the western Indian Ocean may be the first trace of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 since it vanished nearly a year and a half ago, and a tragic but finally solid clue to one of aviation's most perplexing and expensive mysteries. Malaysia's prime minister said Thursday the debris found on the French island of R�union will be sent for investigation to the French city of Toulouse, hub of the European aviation industry. " We have had many false alarms before, but for the sake of the families who have lost loved ones, and suffered such heartbreaking uncertainty, I pray that we will find out the truth so that they may have closure and peace," Najib Razak said on his personal blog. Najib vowed to make any new information public quickly. Air safety investigators - one of them a Boeing investigator - have identified the component as a flaperon from the trailing edge of a Boeing 777 wing, a U. S. official said. Flight 370, which disappeared March 8, 2014, with 239 people on board, is the only 777 known to be missing. The piece could help investigators figure out how the plane crashed, but whether it will help search crews pinpoint the rest of the wreckage is unclear, given the complexity of the currents in the southern Indian Ocean and the time that has elapsed since the plane disappeared. " It's the first real evidence that there is a possibility that a part of the aircraft may have been found," said Australian Transport Minister Warren Truss, whose country is leading the search for the plane in a remote patch of ocean far off Australia's west coast. " It's too early to make that judgment, but clearly we are treating this as a major lead." Flight 370 had been travelling from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, but investigators believe based on satellite data that the plane turned south into the Indian Ocean after vanishing from radar. If the wing part is from the Malaysian plane, it would bolster that theory and put to rest others that it travelled north, or landed somewhere after being hijacked. The piece is about two metres long. Investigators have found a number on the part, but it is not a serial or registration number, Truss said. It could be a maintenance number, which may help determine what plane it belongs to, he said. Flaperons are located on the rear edge of both wings, about midway between the fuselage and the tips. When the plane is banking, the flaperon on one wing tilts up and the other tilts down, which makes the plane roll to the left or right as it turns. French authorities are on R�union island to examine the piece, according to an official close to an investigation of the debris. A French law enforcement helicopter is scouring the waters around the island in hopes of spotting more debris, and U. S. investigators are examining a photo of the debris. The wing part was found on a desolate, rocky beach in the small town of Saint- Andre and was transferred to the civil aviation authority's offices in the island's main airport, a local police official said. France's foreign ministry said Thursday the piece is under the authority of French judicial officials who will cooperate with international authorities investigating the disappearance of MH370. A massive multinational search effort of the southern Indian Ocean, the China Sea and the Gulf of Thailand has turned up no trace of the plane. The last primary radar contact with Flight 370 placed its position over the Andaman Sea about 370 kilometres northwest of the Malaysian city of Penang. R�union is about 5,600 kilometres southwest of Penang, and about 4,200 kilometres west of the current search area. It was well understood after the aircraft disappeared that if there was floating debris from the plane, Indian Ocean currents would eventually take it to the east coast of Africa, said aviation safety expert John Goglia, a former member of the U. S. National Transportation Safety Board. But the debris is unlikely to provide much help in tracing the ocean currents back to the location of the main wreckage, he said. " It's going to be hard to say with any certainty where the source of this was," he said. - The Associated Press Plane debris on R�union to be tested in France Called ' major lead' in Malaysian flight probe By Andrew Meldrum And Sylvie Corbet Plane debris found on the Indian Ocean island of R�union, seen here on Thursday, will be transported to France to find out whether it is from missing airliner MH370, Malaysia's prime minister has said. Initial reports suggest it's likely from a Boeing 777. RAYMOND WAE TION / MAXPPP / ZUMA PRESS / TNS A_ 15_ Jul- 31- 15_ FP_ 01. indd A15 7/ 30/ 15 6: 41: 08 PM ;