Breaking: Possible wreckage of MH370 found

[Sea Skimmer]

Not in any relevant sense no. Avoiding damage to larger pieces is the the whole point of using a bearing instead of grinding a shaft against a structural component. The structure may still undergo metal fatigue, but that's different and generally will be engineered such that it lasts the overall life of the plane or what have you.

[Batman]

Shows how much I know. Thanks for enlightening me.

[InsaneTD]

I'm guessing from the lack of posts here that Australian tv media was wrong when they said Boeing had confirmed it was a piece of the plane then? It was on the news here almost a week ago.

[Broomstick]

No, they were correct - Boeing did confirm it was from a 777 but my understanding is that it was from photographic evidence. They were able to confirm it was a 777 part, but not that it was from a particular 777.

I recall hearing that Boeing had sent folks to help out the French as well, but no further details. It's pretty standard for Boeing to send people to help out investigations involving one of their airplanes.

[SpottedKitty]

Isn't there a shortage of any other planes it could be from? There haven't been many 777 losses; I though I'd read somewhere they were all on land or otherwise accounted for, except for this one.

[Zaune]

The alternative possibility is that it fell over the side of a bargeload of scrap metal and drifted for a few years.

[Broomstick]

Isn't there a shortage of any other planes it could be from? There haven't been many 777 losses; I though I'd read somewhere they were all on land or otherwise accounted for, except for this one.

Pretty much, however, as noted it is possible for a piece like that to have an origin other than a crash. Best to be absolutely sure, or as close as we can manage.