Finding MH370
Deep Dive: MH370, Remastered
The Flaperon [S1Ep18 audio]
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The Flaperon [S1Ep18 audio]

The discovery that turned the search for MH370 on its head

At 8.30am on July 29, 2015, on the northeastern shore of Réunion Island, a cleanup crew was working its way along a stretch of pebbly beach when a worker named Johnny Begue spotted an unfamiliar-looking object at the edge of the surf. Roughly rectangular and about six feet long, it somewhat resembled a stubby airplane wing encrusted with marine life. Soon gendarmes were on the scene, along with local news photographers. The piece was quickly identified as a flaperon, a part of a 777 wing’s trailing edge. Close examination revealed that it was indisputably a piece of MH370. Here at last, was physical evidence that the missing airliner really had crashed in the southern Indian Ocean.

But was that conclusion inescapable? In today’s episode we discuss how, once again, the evidence in this case looks stranger the closer you examine it.

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Finding MH370
Deep Dive: MH370, Remastered
A director's cut of the first 31 episodes of season 1