Lost and found: a piece of Flight 370?
After all the false leads in the year and a third since Malaysian Flight 370 vanished, we now have a real possibility that a piece of it has washed ashore, a sort of cryptic message in a bottle that may have drifted thousands of miles from wherever the plane’s gravesite—and that of its 227 passengers and 12 crew—lies.
Unofficial reports are that the piece is indeed from a Boeing 777, the type of plane involved in the disappearance, and that there are no other 777s that are unaccounted for. Experts are being dispatched even as we speak to identify it further and more exactly, through a number that was found on it which might be some sort of maintenance number but is neither a serial nor a registration number. The item appears from photos to be similar to a plane part known as a flaperon, which “is a lightweight part of an aircraft wing that helps control the plane’s movement. It is lightweight and has sealed chambers, making it buoyant.”
The buoyancy would explain a lot about how it ended up on the island. Notice that the place it was found is named Saint-Andre de la Reunion Island, otherwise known as Reunion Island—aptly named for the site of a plane’s re-entry from the land of the unknown into the realm of human awareness.
We can only hope it’s from Flight 370, because the mystery has been excruciating for the families of the passengers and crew. Chinese people made the bulk of the plane’s passengers, and many of their families don’t want the debris to be from Flight 370, or are at best ambivalent about it, which is completely understandable. What a horrific experience they’ve undergone, and what a wrenching series of downs and ups and downs:
On Thursday, several families said they still believe, against the odds, that the missing passengers are out there, or that this is another false alarm. To believe otherwise is to accept the worst.
They called on the Chinese press to stop printing “hearsay,” and said they were not ready to accept that the wreckage found on Reunion may be a piece of the missing plane…
They have spent the last year locked in Kafkaesque nightmare: cloistered in a hotel for weeks waiting for news, told not to talk to the media, fed false information, and when they made too much noise, reportedly beaten by Chinese police.
Absent verifiable facts, the rumor mill went wild. Some still believe that the plane was intercepted, perhaps by Islamic extremists or the CIA, and that their relatives could alive, waiting to be rescued.
“Closure” is a very overused word, but if ever people needed it, it would be the families of Flight 370.
It had been predicted that if the wreckage were to be found, it would probably be in eastern Africa or nearby because of the way tides work in the Indian Ocean. Reunion is somewhat east of Madagascar, which would place it in the expected area—an area that’s quite large but still circumscribed. Unfortunately, however, even if the debris is from the plane and it confirms a crash, that doesn’t help to point towards a more precise answer to the question of where the rest of the wreckage might be found or even where to search for it.
A suitcase also found on the beach at Reunion has been turned over to authorities, but it could be a false lead because there is nothing to tie it to Flight 370 so far. Reunion is no desert island, either; it is a resort and sugar-raising area with 800,000 residents, so a suitcase could have come from many other sources.
This article indicates that, if it is determined that the flaperon is from the missing plane, it would put an end to the conspiracy theories about its disappearance. I disagree. Those who believe in conspiracy theories tend to be resistant to contrary evidence that would seem convincing to non-conspiracy-theorists. For example, I can readily imagine that if this plane part is declared to have been from a 777 and even from the doomed flight, many of those who believe in a conspiracy will just reply that it was planted or fabricated by lying authorities in a further coverup.
A cleverly manufactured piece of flotsam that has been jettisoned by a passing dhow in order to disguise the real airstrip from which Flight 370 will be launched in order to ram itself (filled with jetfuel and explosives) into the Congress during the next state of the union message.
vanderleun:
Precisely.
If the conspiracy were to ditch or crash the plane, this is not a proof against it.
Richard Aubrey:
That’s not what I mean when I say conspiracy, although you’re right that that could have been a conspiracy. But I think of that more as a terrorist act, perhaps by one person.
By “conspiracy” I am meaning the idea that the plane did not crash but was landed somewhere and that there are still plans for it.
a sort of cryptic message in a bottle that may have drifted thousands of miles from wherever the plane’s gravesite–and that of its 227 passengers and 12 crew–lies.
We were told the plane in very deep point under the water so there isno such machine can go to that depth?
Then the simply saying “message in a bottle that may have drifted thousands of miles from wherever the plane’s gravesite” just make no sence.
As keeping the belive this is “terrorist act” this why most of the pepole and also those involove with find the truth lost thier direction.
If as in IF this bit of flotsam is irrefutably connected to MF 370, it remains an unexplained incident better suited to infowars.
Vanderleun:
Is that a threat or a promise?
Actually, the current in the Indian Ocean precisely tracks in a counter clockwise direction from the general area in which the Australians were searching and toward Reunion Island.
The piece of the airplane on display is not very large. I have searched the ocean for aircraft debris and survivors. I can attest that it is very hard to find objects, and particularly objects with no vertical development. I don’t know if the piece would show up on airborne radar or not. It is also possible that this bit had a level of buoyancy that would result in its being carried along in the current beneath the surface until it reached the island.
This is simply speculation; but I am not writing off the authenticity, nor am I ready to jump on conspiracy theories.
They’re not saying it is aliens… but it is aliens.
Real conspiracies do happen. When I was a young man I thought the John Birch Society was a bunch of kooks, but the sharp leftward shift of our country culminating in the election of Obama shows that they were correct in general even if many of the details about the plot were wrong.
Sadly, the conspiracy theories Neo mentions are based on real information about how Muslims behave and still can not be ruled out. We know that there are deeply religious Muslim terrorists who want to kill as many of us as possible simply because we aren’t Muslims. We also know that Muslims have been hijacking planes for any years. We know that Muslims believe that they are guaranteed a place in paradise if they die killing kaffirs in jihad and we know that the only way a devout Muslim can be certain of his own salvation is through death in jihad.
We have been told that someone on the plane deliberately turned off the transmitters which would have enabled the World to track the plane which is an act that almost certainly indicates an evil intent. Indeed, the only thing this wreckage might exclude is the possibility that there was a SUCCESSFUL plot to steal the plane intact. Of course, knowing how much Muslims like to gloat when they commit crimes, it is uncharacteristic that a large group of Muslim conspirators would have successfully stolen a plane and then would have successfully kept that fact a secret for so long.
Clinically, paranoia occurs first, then goes looking for an explanation. One could say that is partially true for depression and anxiety as well: we find ourselves depressed, then seek a convincing narrative.
As for conspiracies, people attempt them all the time, but they are not successful. Someone always squeals. When there is a general movement of ideas, a spirit of the age, people can attribute conspiratorial meaning to them. Yet whatever actual conspiracies underlie the movement might be an insignificant part of the change.
When I was a young man I thought the John Birch Society was a bunch of kooks, but the sharp leftward shift of our country culminating in the election of Obama shows that they were correct in general even if many of the details about the plot were wrong.
Or maybe the masterminds made them get it wrong on purpose in order to discredit certain lines of inquiry.
The thing about onion conspiracies and Byzantine plots, is that only a small percentage of humans have the talent, brainpower, or IQ to navigate the maze.
Because if a Hitler Bush conspiracy existed, the people out there talking about it, would disappear cause they would be dropped into the Pacific sooner or later. So why do they keep mouthing off, why are they still alive?
There are ways to detect if certain details are correct. But there’s no way to detect how many layers the onion actually has.
If the crazy people talking about Hussein 2008 were right, then something would happen to them, to the Tea Party, right? If Hussein joked about the IRS, then it’ll be easy to tell if the IRS was going to do it, right? But that’s only easy to see for the people after someone else tells them, in 2015.
The people with the talent and capability to unpeal the onion, already knew or suspected it in 2008. The thing is, if they broadcasted it to the world to “prove they were right”, they would be the ones that the IRS would destroy first.
Concerning paranoid delusions, there’s a concrete difference of degree between the paranoid delusions of a six year old that can’t fight his way out of a paperbag, vs an adult veteran or warrior who has engaged in wet work, undercover operations, military or civilian operations, etc. The paranoid fear may be the same in kind, but it is not the same in degree or in detail.
Ymarsakar Says
“Or maybe the masterminds made them get it wrong on purpose in order to discredit certain lines of inquiry.”
The thing about conspiracy theories is that some are true and some are not. If one has to peel back the onion, as you say, too many times it is probably false. The Communist conspiracy didn’t need much peeling to get to the heart of the issue. My favorite source for the Communist/leftist conspiracy network is David Horowitz at:
http://www.frontpagemag.com/
http://www.jbs.org/home/what-s-behind-the-confederate-battle-flag-purging
Here’s a John Birch video.
Even though CPAC refused to invite them for 2012 convention, much of their views might be classified as consistent with mainstream conservative suspicions.
Their methodology is unknown however. Merely because someone gets the same mathematical conclusion, doesn’t mean their methods were correct.
The inverse is that if the conspiracy was too powerful, they would be erased. Either the conspiracy is not powerful enough, or they concentrate their energies on greater threats like Palin or the Tea Party, not Horowitz or JBS.
This calls into question the effectiveness of their applied actions. Even if they think they are fighting the Left… how effective are their actions if they do not initiate a heavy counter attack?
Horo was involved in trying to suppress a redone communist history of WWII, because he was allied to a Soviet connected historian.
Horo was never part of the wet work or black ops branches of the Left, he never participated that deeply nor were his skills related to such work.
His behavior forces me to conclude that Leftist conditioning is still in him, and he doesn’t know how to remove it. Even though any number of external triggers from Leftist agents can change his behavior.
In a war, of course, one can’t be too picky about one’s allies. However, that doesn’t mean people should turn their backs so easily without some protections or contingencies.
If one has to peel back the onion, as you say, too many times it is probably false.
By onion, I mean that the truth is complicated. For example, is Horo now an anti Leftist that is on our side? Is the answer yes or not?
The onion viewpoint is that the answer is not yes or no, there’s something more complicated.
For example, Hussein’s actions can be explained as a result of Bush’s active measures on 9/11, in order to supplant criticism of his forces unto Democrat and non aligned factions. Thus everything people suspect about Hussein, was only ever true of Bush II’s fascist alliance.
That’s the onion effect. It becomes more and more difficult to account for verifying different theories, as one engages with more and more variables on the world stage. Because even if the possibility of the above theory is close to zero, is not exactly zero, and thus certain resources must be utilized to verify it or not. However, most people don’t have the resources to peel back the onion that far, so they ignore it. But ignoring things like that can have issues.
Ymarsakar Says in reference to Horowitz:
“His behavior forces me to conclude that Leftist conditioning is still in him, and he doesn’t know how to remove it.”
True enough, but it adds to his power as an author.