In this photo dated Wednesday, July 29, 2015, French police officers inspect a piece of debris from a plane in Saint-Andre, Reunion Island. 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. (AP Photo/Lucas Marie)
Experts answer your MH370 questions
02:15 - Source: CNN AP

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Experts field questions for CNN about the discovery of possible debris from MH370

Questions from Twitter get answered on air and on social media

CNN  — 

This week’s discovery of what could be debris from the long missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 has people once again asking if one of aviation’s biggest mysteries might finally be solved.

CNN asked viewers on social media to tweet their questions about the new development with the hashtag #MH370qs, and went to the experts for help.

Among them were CNN aviation expert Richard Quest; safety and accident investigator David Soucie; Peter Goelz, former managing director of the National Transportation Safety Board; aviation analyst Les Abend; and aviation and space journalist Miles O’Brien.

We got many interesting questions and below are some of those our experts were able to answer, both on air and on social media.

If the flight recorders or so-called black boxes are found, will they be readable?

How is a part matched to a specific plane?

How did the debris travel so far?

Can we expect to find more debris?

Can studying models of ocean currents help find more wreckage?

Did the debris fall on land or wash up from the sea?

What about the suitcase that washed up?

Could satellite readings from when the plane went missing be wrong?

Were people in the Maldives who said they saw the plane ignored?

Does the debris indicate whether the plane broke up in flight or on impact?