Bearfoil
As the RTLU was found in its Normal Law setting, what is the implication regarding travel? Was the Rudder free to travel stop to stop, was it pinned in a centered position?
Once the maximum allowable rudder angle is computed, the RTLU stop screw turns incrementally to implement the angle.
What of the initial reports that bodies were recovered in "two separate areas, separated by fifty miles?"
Much of the information released by the Brazilian Military was designed for media consumption and on analysis was mostly devoid of "facts". A series of debris charts released by the BEA and showing where and when various (but undisclosed as to what component) items were recovered, also shows positions for the bodies. It should be pointed out that due to the 36g force they suffered on impact, and other events that happen in the sea, most of those bodies will not have behaved as one would expect.
What do you make of the found positions re: VS, Galley, wing bits, aileron, Elevator, Spoiler, et al?
I have no further information to identify specific items of debris, other than that provided graphically by the BEA for the V/S, and for the Port Outer Spoiler obtained from a very reliable source. The difficulty with back-tracking the various objects is determining how they actually behaved in different sea states and wind. This is why the phase 3 search area is still relatively large, ie. 887NM2.
Perhaps the scenario you are developing fits the following, though substitute the "mountain wave" for a severe mesoscale event:-
On March 5, 1966, British Overseas Airways flight 911, a Boeing 707, departed Tokyo for Hong Kong with 124 people and the cabin crew aboard. Because of the clear weather at the time, the pilot asked for and received an amendment to the scheduled flight plan that would allow his passengers an up-close view of Mt. Fuji. Shortly after the airplane began its descent toward the mountain, witnesses reported seeing the airplane trailing white vapor and shedding pieces. The witnesses also reported that they saw a large puff of vapor that came from the airplane’s vertical stabilizer and that the airplane pitched up and entered a flat spin. The witnesses further reported that the vertical stabilizer assembly and engines were missing, the outer wing had failed, the forward fuselage broke off, and the airplane continued in a flat spin until it crashed into the base of Mt. Fuji. All of the airplane occupants were killed. The report on this accident indicated that, when approaching Mt. Fuji, the airplane was violently impacted by a severe mountain wave, which led to vertical stabilizer failure and subsequent in-flight breakup. (A U.S. Navy aircraft, which was dispatched to search for the flight 911 wreckage, encountered extreme turbulence near the area of the crash. In fact, the G meter installed on the U.S. Navy aircraft registered +9 to -4 Gs during the flight.) The report also identified the white vapor as jet fuel flowing out of the airplane after separation of the engines.
In AF447's case, ACARS was quite capable of providing some clues to any of those events, but it didn't, and may be because they didn't happen.
mm43