Agree with Capt Fishy
I am also dismayed at the tangents this thread has taken. All speculation, especially concerning the vertical stab. It is obviously apparent that the VS was found due to three possible scenarios:
1. It departed the airframe at altitude and either caused or contributed to the possible inflight breakup.
2. It left the airframe after the airplane departed controled flight due to compounding failures and systems problems.
3. It was seperated upon impact with the Atlantic Ocean.
In all scenarios above, it was only discovered fairly quickly because it floated. It floated is all we know at this time. Fairly simple.
Of course this is "the" topic in aviation and airline ops at this time, however the total lack of knowledge expressed by some/many posters here amaze me. I can certainly pick the fly **** from the pepper and realize who the true professional aviators are in the postings.
Are we now going to have witch hunts and place perfectly good airframes on the ground circa 1979-1980 with the DC-10 that put Sir Freddie out of business for no sane reason? The accident is an anomaly, which is why it is both an accident and hard to discover the cause.
I watch the thread daily and I truly understand the want for information. I would suggest to the mods that this be broken out to threads that require different levels of certification or expertise for participation.
Over