Originally Posted by Will Fraser
The impact's description is confusing. It may or may not be purposely so. Vertical impact without forward movement extinguishes the need to even mention a 'direction', any direction would be irrelevent. If they meant 'in the direction of flight' I challenge them to support their conclusion. How in God's name can a heading be determined at impact? Even if it was 'important'. To prove the a/c fell 7 miles not experiencing a heading deviation? There is something more here than 'misunderstanding'.
Unfortunately, "en ligne de vol" happens to be one of those phrases that, when translated, is apt to subtly change meaning, whichever of the various English alternatives is used.
A someone whose French was close to fluent at one time and having just refreshed it with a week's flying and chatting to French pilots in the Alps, I agree with EMIT, a few posts ago, that its use in the original French is almost certainly intended simply to convey that the BEA believe the aircraft hit the water with its horizontal motion in the usual direction and not to imply anything about its heading.
I was tempted just to send this as a PM but the English translation seems to be causing more than localised confusion. Apologies to the mods in advance if you find this post unnecessary.