Originally Posted by
DaveReidUK
Both recorders will have been reduced to mangled fragments - only the stainless steel or titanium shell that protects the memory modules needs to survive - and the missing one could well be several feet down in the mud.
DRUK has it exactly right. Sadly, I have been to several accident sites involving high speed, near vertical impacts. You cannot imagine (don't want to imagine) such a scene. In addition to
everything being reduced to simply fragments, those fragments are twisted, torn, dirt or mud-covered (sometimes burned) pieces of pieces of pieces. The orange boxes (exterior portions) are no exception, as they are usually the same dirty colour as everything else, and often in smaller pieces as well. Almost nothing looks like something you would recognize, because everything was crushed and conglomerated in an instant.
So, patience is called for, as is a large dose of respect and empathy for those doing the onsite work.