justme69; (B2N2, I know you were only posting a link but please take note);
Not to judge anyone, but the press has been displaying graphics and even 3D animations without any foundation on reality (I still get nervous when I watch the ones showing an engine explosion).
Regarless, graphics today seem to show a fairly good representation of the strip and path, give or take a few 10's of meters.
I think it is a very good thing that you get "nervous" when you watch this animation showing an engine explosion and interference with the rudder, (I don't read Spanish but I see the red arrows).
As you say, there is no basis in reality for the media to create fancy, convincing animations when they do not possess any information beyond eye-witness and passenger accounts as to what happened. We have no information on the flight data recorders but they certainly haven't been made available to the public let alone the media.
An animation can only be built from flight data. Anything else is from someone's imagination who almost certainly has no aviation background or experience. The animations are misleading and worthless. They answer no questions, they increase wrong answers and increase the anguish of families thereby.
Technical prowess in the graphic arts and editorial license in reporting "as truth" what is in fact not known, is irresponsible journalism which plays with the victims' families and convinces most others that "the truth is now known", which of course it is not.
I do animations from flight data all the time as part of our ongoing flight data analysis program. Crews are free to call us (though management is not), to ask about their flights. The tool is very helpful in answering many, though not all, questions that flight crew may have. The tool helps crews understand what may have happened during an approach (or other event) that they weren't happy with and wanted to know more about - it is an effective safety tool because learning is involved.
I know what it takes to produce an accurate animation which can tell as much of the truth as the data will permit but even then we have to be very cautious about what we see.
The media will have created this "animation" out of a standard graphic software like Studio Max and as such it is an extremely powerful, enticing image,
which is completely without foundation.
This illustrates why second-hand story-telling in the wrong hands (the media, as well as some of the wilder theories seen in this thread) can produce seriously flawed results and draw people unknowingly to incorrect conclusions about what happened.
vanHorck:
The El Mundo graphic shows a deviation to the left before veering off to the right. First time i heard that one! Deviation to the left due to the left engine failing and over-correction to the right leading to touching the right wing briefly as often stated?
If I may, I don't mean to be unkind but it is your comment which illustrates precisely the problem described in the post above. The animation has no basis in fact and should be dismissed completely. No one has any information on whether the airplane first went left then right or ...?