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Old 20th May 2010, 14:17
  #738 (permalink)  
bearfoil
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Taking SmilinEd and his post into account, I see the left wing closest to the viewer, the right wing on the "other side" of the road, both right side up and both carrying some portion of the wing box at their root, with a substantial part of the center section a bit short of the wings. What I thought was a canoe I think instead is a tear in the wing as it flopped onto the ground. I also make out the left engine pylon protruding through the top of the left wing. They did not slide much, if at all; I believe they were airborne and are as SmilinEd says, the last of the wreckage due to integrity and mass of their structure. One theory is that either the main gear or tail hit first, bringing the nose down heavily, "pitch-poling" the fuselage over the nose. Some other poster proposed the fuel (that which was left) atomized and disappeared in a fireball congruent with its mass.

Noticed in the photograph is a spanwise and virtually uninterrupted separation of the leading edges. Testimony to the amazing strength of the structure, but sadly, also to the amount of energy borne in so heavy a mass in a tragic collision with the ground.
The survivor is a young man with angels surrounding him, it stretches the reason to know that a living being survived that chaotic end.

bear