Fresh hope in the search for missing MH370 as suspected aircraft debris washes up on a remote beach in Australia's far north
Debris which may be from a commercial aircraft has been found on a remote beach in Australia's far north - raising fresh hopes of finding missing aircraft MH370.
Mick Elcoate was fishing on a remote beach about seven killometres north of Cape Tribulation, in Far North Queensland, when he spotted wreckage washed ashore on Monday morning.
'My initial thoughts were that it was either part of a yacht's rudder, or possibly a trim tab from an aircraft,' Mr Elcoate told Daily Mail Australia.
Debris found on a remote beach in Far North Queensland (pictured) could lead to a new twist in the search for missing aircraft MH370
Mick Elcoate was fishing on a remote beach (pictured) about seven killometres north of Cape Tribulation when he spotted wreckage washed ashore on Monday morning
The avionics technician snapped pictures of the wing-like structure, which was covered in sand and shells.
Mr Elcoate said he doesn't have expertise in aircraft structures so he decided to share the photos with the Aircraft Maintenance Engineering Facebook group 'to see if anyone could ID it'.
'That's when several people started contacting me,' he said.
Mr Elcoate was encouraged to contact Australian Transport Safety Bureau, which he did. He shared pictures of the debris with the federal agency on Tuesday.
MH370, a Malaysia Airlines plane, vanished from radar screens carrying 239 people, including six Australians, en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in March 2014.
However, it's unlikely the remains unearthed on Monday belong to the missing Boeing 777 - as a part of a wing was found on Reunion Island, east of Madagascar, in 2015, which is more than 10,000km away.
The avionics technician snapped pictures of the wing-like structure, which was covered in sand and shells (pictured)
Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association Australia shared Mr Elcoate's pictures to their Facebook page on Tuesday.
'Has another piece of the MH370 puzzle washed ashore?' they wrote.
'Reported today on Facebook, a mysterious component that appears similar to either a B737 or B777 trim tab has washed ashore north of Cape Tribulation.
'The item was not recovered from the beach, by those who discovered it.'
A fishing rod on top of the debris helps to show the size of the finding
Aviation researcher Mick Gilbert told The Australian he did not think the discovery was from the doomed Malaysian Airlines flight.
'The part shows nowhere near enough weathering, has relatively sparse barnacle growth and is almost certainly the wrong colour,' he said.
'If it is indeed an aircraft component it is more likely to be a piece of Air Niugini flight 73 that landed short of the runway at Chuuk International airport back in September 2018.'
