SLFinAZ:
I'm curious if we have any type of confirmation that the 1st automatic report was in fact the AP disconnect and the shift to alternate logic? If so based on my limited understanding that would indicate that an upset of some type preceded the following cascade of electrical and system failure warnings.
I've been reading a lot and saying nothing, but this is pretty much where I've gotten to as well. My pure conjecture based on the alleged ACARS reports and timings, together with Tim Vasquez's excellent weather analysis: something very sudden and very violent (most likely although not necessarily: extraordinary turbulence) got the a/c badly out of shape, leading to deselection of autopilot and selection of "Alternate Law", and from then on who knows what caused the cascade of errors. Here's hoping they can get the FDR back at least.
Mindful of the fact that the a/c may have been in an abnormal situation, potentially in violent weather in the dark, I have one question (which hopefully is not too stupid) for those who can answer clearly. On this type, could electrical or computer failures relating to ADIRU and ISIS leave the pilots with no attitude or airspeed indication - or are there old-school hardware backup instruments on this type? As an add-on, if ADIRU and ISIS are completely non-functional, and you have no external horizon reference - is that even recoverable?
Just my stupid SLF question...