I can see 3 "cuts" in the leading edge of the VS, anyone else concur?
I finally downloaded and collected all the pics that managed to survive the posts here (probably only 20%). This makes it a little easier to reference comments back to a pic.
My quick look at the VS leading edge does shows the cuts that you refer but I could' only resolve those if I had a pic 0.5-1.0 X. Somebody with a before pic (airliners net?) might confirm if they they're before hand. Otherwise I would suspect rope lashings to recover the part.
I now see what PJ2 was referring in his posts. Most of what I see are breakups and scarring at relatively low speed not a dive into the water.
I tend to go along with the reports from the somebody close to the investigation that the aircraft broke up partially before it hit the ground (like AI, SA, PA103, TWA800 etc.). However many of the photos are probably from parts that stayed with the larger aircraft sections until they struck the water at freefall speed (significant drag so their terminal velocity would have been low).
Thus I suspect that allowing for some drift the rest of the plane is in the begining of the drift area where parts like the galley and crew rest seats were found.
For any of you water borne experts out there. Is it practical to plant a couple hundred floating bottles (or rubber ducks) out there and track where they end up in several days just to confirm how far the currents might have moved them until they were recovered? Forget the underwater currents, the stuff that I have seen never got more than a few feet below the surface (no signs of hydraulic loading)
of course the investigators are way ahead of us internet folks on this stuff.