ACLS65,
I'll give a 2nd pass at French-aided Google translation, and see if the mods let this one live, who knows...
A new possibility is under investigation regarding the causes of the crash.
According to an "informed source" quoted in the first edition of this Saturday's Journal du Dimanche (JDD), the French BEA consider "the possibility of a leak in the wastewater conduits, reported shortly after take-off by a first automated message warning from the Airbus A330."
"The leak, undetectable to the crew" may have "caused a prolonged water flow," says Le Journal du Dimanche.Then, when the aircraft hit temperatures below -50°C, the water flow would have produced "a major frost outburst within the composite membrane (half metal, half-composite carbon-type)", explains the weekly newspaper.
This composite membrane is located inside the fuselage at the rear of the aircraft. According to the "informed source" quoted by Le JDD, it would be "frost which caused a sudden in-flight break-out of the aircraft structure."
BOAC,
I thought of passing on this piece of information after reading a recent exchange between PJ2 and tquehl: "It is extremely hard for me to believe that the aircraft broke up inflight".
Maybe the water leak could answer that question, maybe not. I'm just the messenger, you guys are the experts... I'll leave it to you from there!