Fine work, xkoote, that's exactly how I had imagined both the heading-changes and track of the aircraft to be. The track of the body of the aircraft "straightened itself out" given the trajectory of the mass and lateral forces at work; thus the 'S'-turning...
LuckyStrike, the area in the grass is that area about which I made my comment that the drag of the main gear would be too great for any (meaningful/sustained) noseup pitching. I agree with xander - the nosewheel "slammed" down and created the marks - not an engine.
By the tracks there are no high bounces of the airframe itself nor loss of the main-gear at least until past the road. Any significant bounces will have occurred before this point, on the runway, (if at all).
Also, (given eye-witness reliability and potential for over/under-estimating aircraft attitudes), the bank angle to sustain high drag forces sufficient to pull the aircraft heading to the right, would not have to be that high - I'm guessing between 10 and 20 degrees rt. bank at the most. But the recorders will tell us soon enough.
Re damage to the DFDR notwithstanding heat survivabilit, assuming either engine stayed with the airframe, there would have been electrical power until quite late, (relatively speaking) in the breakup sequence. There could very well be data for critical phases, say up to the first impact, remaining intact in the DFDR. We can certainly hope for this, anyway.
Last edited by PJ2; 27th Aug 2008 at 00:43.