Can I just pose a new challenging question (while we wait).:-
As the 2nd or is it 3rd stage of the search is about to begin. Many posters here have postulated the theory that the aircraft may have broken into fairly sizeable chunks before sinking to the bottom.
The perfect solution of course for flight recorder recovery, would have been for it to be torn apart, that way, somewhere on the seabed would be the recorders laying to be discovered, as seems to have been the case in recent accidents.
However, we may well have a near intact rear section of fuselage, probably somewhat compacted due to the pressure depth in which these vital recorders are bolted.
Is it at all likely that an ROV could cut and recover the recorders in this situation or would the whole piece of wreckage have to be recovered to the surface.
This rear section may well have a mass of 10 tonnes and a surface area of 30 sq.m. +
Could it be lifted, how and, what is the physics involved.
Bit of surfing has revealed they lifted a 17 ton piece of the Titanic, however they dropped it 2.5 miles back to the bottom the first time due to a storm upsetting the cables.