Quote:
Originally Posted by Chocaholic
But...in any case, there is plenty of stuff that would float and given the amount of time, it is still interesting that not a single piece of floating debris has been identified. That is almost unexplainable at this point.
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While even the experts are puzzled by the lack of debris, there are a few reasons that can help explain the missing materials.
First, if the plane went into the water as most think, any debris field will be much more restricted in size than if the plane came apart in the air. Second, there was a force five typhoon within two days of the assumed crash, in the exact area where the pings are located. Any floating debris would have been widely scattered by that one event alone. Third, the area where the pings were located was not even searched until over three weeks had passed. Any debris floating after the crash would have had plenty of time to float far from the site and, possibly sink if it was susceptible to water absorption. Fourth, it's possible any debris was very small to begin with and floating with little exposure above the surface making it very difficult to see even if right on top of it. Fifth, the great unknown, it's possible that the plane went down relatively intact with very little debris left behind. Add that to the elements listed above, and the likelihood of finding it right away is very small. Finally, keep in mind
this disappearance is unprecedented in its lack of information as to location. The crash it is most often compared with is AF477, and in that case, the general location of the crash was known, and a debris field was located.
I'm certainly no expert, but given the circumstances of this particular incident, I don't find it especially mysterious that no debris has been found yet, and I'm convinced some debris will eventually be identified, probably from some random discovery by an unofficial search entity.