This has been bugging me for a while now and I don't have nearly enough understanding of the effects of deep water pressure on an aircraft structure to be confident on my thoughts - but... having worked on a number of simulators for various submarines in my past career I do have some (limited) knowledge on the result of exceeding the crush depth on a submarine structure. It's not pretty.
So what could anyone reasonably expect to find if the aircraft found itself heading for an ocean bed of depth of say 2000m+? My math puts the pressure at around 2900lbs/sqr inch. If that is anywhere near correct, there's not going to be much left that is going to be anywhere near recognizable is there?
And secondly, assuming it is found, how would recovery of such wreckage help? Surely the crush forces will have so greatly distorted the structure as to lend it near useless in telling the tale we so hope it might?
- GY
