Dutch Bru,
Your point about no date on the grid I posted is of course valid. It was obviously before 6 June on account of where the FAB seemed to be concentrating its search. The difference is that on 6 June the FAB were finding debris in the area SW of TASIL, whereas on 2 June I believe the visibility was variable in rain/showers, and even though they may have flown near to, or over the 3°18'N 30°48'W position the v/s is assumed to have been at 1500z on that day, they obviously sighted nothing.
One and a half days after the impact the floating debris pattern would still have been relatively compact - say a radius of 0.5NM, as I construe the BEA's description of the impact as having little or no horizontal momentum - more a tail heavy "flat spin".
In the cruise, I assume the trim tank was in use - not helpful later on.
Still, it puzzles me as to why the FAB had no radar contacts, e.g. a number of metalic objects were in the debris. The spoiler unfortunately would have been a rather poor target - floating flush with the surface and effectively sea clutter.
mm43