mm43
Thanks for your kind response.
It is unfortunate that BEA included the statements at all. It struck me as precipitous and committed them to a course of analysis that ended up causing doubt about their motives. Honestly, I'd have been tempted to say something similar had the a/c been proprietary, as well. It seemed that it was too important to establish at the outset that the a/c had not involved itself in inflight breakup. This, to me, prompted the "En Ligne de Vol".
An a/c absent a Vertical Stabilizer sees "En ligne de Vol" only occasionally, and that by "accident". There is NO lateral control. Ask Al Haynes, or the Japanese Captain post aft bulkhead failure and loss of VS in the JAL 747.
Their second statement that there had been "Yaw" at impact might conflict with an intact empennage. Their initial report was somewhat biased, and prematurely so. As any investigation progresses, decisions are made that are unfortunately political, and economical in nature. As CONFiture has pointed out, dead pilots cause no trouble. I for one am far less interested in streaming positions and airframe performance moment to moment than I am in finding out why well trained crew in Legacy service ended up in the Sea, with all the others on that "ill-fated" flight.
Pingers and side scan? Awesome. What of the CAUSE?
bear