Greybeard said:
Thanks for the diagram of antenna locations, Saigon Lost. It gives evidence that the vertical fin was intact throughout the period of the ACARS reports, else there would have been HF Fail reports, too. The VOR antennas are not monitored, but the HF antenna couplers, in the leading edge of the vertical fin, are active LRU, Line Replaceable Units, that are powered, and provide fault reporting to the transceivers, which would, in turn, report to the ACMS, and from there to ACARS.
GB
Great Work Greybeard! The HF was most likely operational until 0214z (we say this, because of the
absence of a LRU ACARS message of it being faulted). Therefore, the vertical stablizer was intact and had not left the airplane before 0214z.
This Means that the ACARS messages probably
preceded the fatal loss of control event.
(recall, that my high dive estimate is 60 seconds from jet upset FL350 to 10-14K recoverable air. Please challenge this if you can prove a different elapsed time from FL350.)
Again, outstanding work guys.
This board is
way more than speculation with guys like Greybeard posting.
CC