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Old 20th May 2010, 06:29
  #722 (permalink)  
onetrack
 
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After intensive re-examination, particulary of C-SAR's pics, I believe a different scenario happened to the tail strike/high AoA scenario.

If it was a tail strike/high AoA impact, there would be two major impact gouges. One, when the tail struck, and a second one, when the fuselage hit, perhaps 150-200 metres on. I can see only one... and it is a very much wider gouge, than a tail cone would make.

I suggest the following scenario. The aircraft flew into the ground at a low AoA, and the crew never knew a thing until they hit, virtually level. The fuselage impacted at a high rate of descent, and virtually exploded on impact. The wheels were possibly still up, thus the reason for no wheel drag marks. The crew were unaware of their true height (and position), due to patches of mist, sun in their eyes, and quite possibly an incorrect/faulty altimeter reading.

The fuselage promptly shattered into many pieces as a result of 135kts forward speed, and a high vertical descent speed... as witnessed by the LARGE AMOUNT of debris, SPREAD OUT, right after the initial impact crater. The tail separated, largely intact, when the main portion of the fuselage broke up, and tumbled along behind the main debris field, coming to rest, part way along the debris field.

The wings and wing root box, being the more substantial part of the aircraft structure, continued forward, relatively intact. However, the engines hitting the ground, contributed to a major forward rotation of the wings.
Thus, we then have the engines separating shortly after impacting the ground... and at the same time, giving enough impetus to completely rotate both wing structures, resulting in them coming to rest, upside down.
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