What a perplexing case to unravel. Would anyone care to postulate any assumptions on the missing
'MAINTENANCE STATUS ADR2' message that not been transmitted, on a plane that:
1. Was assumed (by the BEA report) to have full hull integrity, until it hit the water.
2. Remained in a 'pitch-up (attitude), with a slight bank and at a high vertical speed'
With possible non-transmission of this message, put down to (copied from the report):
'loss of one or more system(s) essential for the generation and routing of
messages in the aircraft:
ATSU / SDU / antenna: none of the maintenance messages sent is
related in any way whatsoever with the functioning of these systems. A
malfunction of this type should have occurred after the transmission of
the last message and without forewarning.
loss of electrical power supply: this would imply the simultaneous loss of
the two main sources of electrical power generation.
loss of satellite communication:
loss of data during transmission: the satellite’s quality follow-up does
not show any malfunction in the time slot concerned.
loss of contact between the aircraft and the satellite:
•
unusual attitudes: given the relative position of the satellite with respect
to the aircraft and the aircraft’s tracking capability, the antenna would
have to be masked by the aircraft’s fuselage or wings. Examination of
the debris showed that the aircraft hit the water with a bank angle close
to zero and a positive pitch angle. The aircraft would therefore have
been able, in the last seconds at least, to transmit an ACARS message.
• end of the flight between 2 h 14 min 26 and 2 h 15 min 14.'
BEA also noted that the flaps were retracted on track 3 upon impact. This states in my mind that the flaps were retracted at some stage by the crew, or forced there by aerodynamic loads - with the former being highly likely. If that was the case, the crew had time to retract the flaps, in plane that at some point before the blue stuff, was relatively flat, with ACARS working until a certain point. I cannot believe a plane that was maybe (please dont kill me, it is a basic assumption from the scant evidence given) in a stall scenario, did not have time to electronically send a message? (unless a complete power loss was present)...
UM