her boyfriend, phillip wood was aboard the missing flight. >> it gives me the chance to begin to say good-bye because up until now, i haven't been able to do that. and i don't want to do that. but i'm prepared to face reality if there is some proof. mind you, there have been a lot of false leads up until now. until they've gotten a formal confirmation on that, i'm not going to put stock into it yet. >> they certainly have had a lot of different false leads. tom, talk about the fragment that was found and also a suitcase was found near the plane fragment as well? >> if you don't mind let's start with that part number that we see on that flaperon. 657-bb. this certainly does seem to correspond to a boeing parts manual that suggests this is in fact what's called a flaperon and attaches to a 777's wing. it's used to slow a plane on approach. it's also used at high altitudes to help the plane bank. we reported last night that sources have been telling nbc that boeing engineers, boeing investigators have looked at the photographs, looked at the video, and they're pretty confident that in f

sarah bajc's partner, american phillip wood was on board. we talked just two days after the flight disappeared. >> the clothes in his closet are the worst. i >> reporter: how so? >> because i open the closet and it smells like him. >> reporter: she was torn by the news today when we spoke with her from atlanta. >> it means that that threat of hope we've all been holding on to would be broken, and, you know, when you have been keeping your spirits up and your hopes alive for a year and a half, that's a habit that's going to be difficult to break. >> reporter: most of the victims were chinese and family members here tell us they are watching these developments closely and say they want 100% certainty that this is, indeed, wreckage from m.a.-370 because, scott ultimately, they want to know where their family members are. >> pelley: seth doane in beijing this evening. seth, thank you. flight 370 exposed the difficulties in locating missingth planes. well, nasa intentionally crashed a plane yesterday in an experiment that could solve future myste

phillip wood was a passenger.ast night, his partner choked back tears as she talked about what the debris could mean. >> if, ultimately, this is a piece of the wing, then that little thread of hope i have been holding on to will have to break. and reality will have to take over. but, yeah, up until now, i am and most of the family members continued to believe, until we have a body, we can't give up hoping they will still come back. >> so difficult for them. will ripley is in beijing where the flight was headed before veering off course. how is the chinese government responding to the latest news? >> reporter: really, all they are saying is they are monitoring the situation, as is the rest of the world. we are not seeing the chinese government making a strong effort to set up any sort of information center for the families like the one in beijing shortly after the crash that was closed long ago. there's no hot line. china did dispatch search ships and allowed the families to protest. in the months since, protests h

that included one american texas native phillip wood. his partner told the "today" show part of her hopes this is not mh-370. >> until they can verify that it is indeed 370, we just can't deal with the emotional pressure of trying to make any decisions about it. part of a plane is not the same as a body. so i think true closure can only come for sure when you can say good-bye probably. but for most of us life has been stuck in march 8th. so at least some verification that the flight indeed crashed would be a step -- a step forward in being able to say good-bye. >> nbc's tom costello has been on the story since the start. what are investigators going to be looking for here? >> reporter: absolutely by far the biggest break we have had in nearly 17 months of looking for ma slay shah flight 370. when they can actually physically get hold of this flaperon -- and by the way, it's going to be very shortly on its way to france. they're going to be looking at the metal. are there any deformations or anything that looks out of sorts with the metal

. >>> i want to bring in sara her partner, phillip wood was one of the americans on board the missinglies of those missing. thank you so much for being with me this morning. i appreciate it. >> good morning, carol. >> good morning. just tell me what you're feeling right now because i can't even imagine. >> well on the one hand i don't want it to be part of the plane because i don't want to give up that thread of hope we've been holding onto but on the other hand i want the mystery to be solved and up to now we've had absolutely no facts so this would at least be a small step in the right direction. >> some of the families in china and beijing said don't give us any information at all, investigators, governments of malaysia and china, unless you're 100% sure this part of the plane is from flight 370. do you feel the same way? >> well we've never received any valid information from the officials, so that's kind of a needless request, but it is disconcerting when the media blows it all up and out of proportion before we really know anything and i understand why that happens, but it is ve

phillip l. woodse most about walking 2,800 miles across this nation? what did you find? >> well, i found that we're all united. the people of america is very united. it's our leadership that's not united and i'm very happy with all the people that i met, all the stories that i heard, all the talking that i got to do. it was wonderful. >> and it was on your bucket list. it was one of things that you wanted to do and for folks who read your book you had a tough life growing up. you lived with your grandpa. you lived out in the woods. no indoor plumbing no phone, little heat. you were lonely and yet in your head you had a dream. >> i did. and i wanted to be loved, and as i got later in life i had some successes, i had a lot of failures. people should not be afraid of failures. if you can dream it, you can do it. i say get up and do it. get back up. get back up. >> i love that message. >> i carry that message wherever igo and i want us to be united. let's do good things for each other, instead of fight wi

sarah bayjack, partner phillip wood one of the passengers on the plane.short time ago. here's what she said. >> if ultimately this is a piece of the wing that that little thread of hope i have been holding on to will have to break. and reality will have to take over. yeah up until now i and most of the family members have continued to believe that until we have a bedody we cannot give up hoping that they will still come back. >> errol, listening to sarah there it is certainly clear why the search team thousands, why the investigators, australians involved malaysia involved french aviation investigators, bea, the ntsb out of the united states all looking at this boeing to see if they can determine one way or another. if it is from mh-370. lots of question bees ynds beyond that. will it help if they trace it back. figure where the plane went down. their rote search area. australian officials say unlikely. the search for the passengers and the plane continues today. some 2,000 miles off the coast of australia. errol. >> cannot forget with 239 passengers crew

phillip wood was among the 239 aboard mh370 and sarah is joining us now.s news of a likely piece of debris what was your initial reaction? >> well, on the one hand i really don't want it to be part of 370 because that way we can still keep hope out that it wasn't an ocean crash. but on the other hand i think we're all pretty exhausted by the process and need a little bit of closure at this point. >> yeah i can imagine. this is a very trying time. and there have been so many false starts and false claims along the way. i can imagine that you probably want to say or stay cautiously optimistic but somewhat skeptical. >> yeah skeptical would be the better word because how can you be optimistic about such confirmation of bad news. but i'm very glad that it's in french territory because at least an independent country without too much skin in the game is looking at it. and they have a set of experience in looking at air crashes as well. >> that's a very good point and want to dig deeper with that. in terms of how you are being updated, i know you have been quite

defamatory statements made about others online. >> reporter: abc news reached out to woods who declined to comment. lara. >> phillip much. i do think it will make people think before tweeting. >> think twice. >> at the very least. >>> coming up on "good morning america," the amazing stunt one town pulled off to get their favorite band to visit. the story behind this video and how that band the foo fighters responded coming up on "gma." ♪ looking for a way to save me ♪ e this expert negotiator to get a fair deal. i hate to haggle. when you go to a restaurant you don't haggle over the chicken parmesan. why can't car-buying be like that? ♪ ♪ as long as people drive cars carmax will be the best way to buy them. ♪ i'm gonna teach you how to sing it out. ♪ ♪ come on, come on, come on let me tell you what it's all about. ♪ ♪ a-b-c, it's easy as 1-2-3. as simple as do-re-mi, a-b-c, ♪ ♪ 1-2-3 baby you and me, girl. ♪ ♪ a-b-c, it's easy as 1-2-3, ♪ ♪ as simple... ♪ ♪ oh, 1-2-3 baby you and me, yeah. ♪ it's easy to be your favorite character with target. if your purse is starting to look more like a tissue box... you may be m