@UNCTUOUS
In your section 173: "An ACARS message from the airplane recorded the sudden onset of critical Mach and the autopilot disconnecting due to the high aerodynamic trim loads it was holding (and no longer could)."
There were no ACARS messages recording "the sudden onset of critical Mach." The AUTO FLT AP OFF message arrived at 02:10:10 quickly followed by AUTO FLT REAC W/S DET FAULT (unavailability of the reaction to wind shear detection function), then F/CTL ALTN LAW (PROT LOST) and the others.
Overspeed/underspeed/stall as part of the upset sequence has been discussed at length on this and the prior thread, and remain still in the realm of whatIfs. MachCrit is but one of the possibles. Need the black boxes to work out the sequence.
I'd be interested in your expert opinion and description of the politics that might be influencing the science of the "researches" so far. Who are the interested parties and national and international stakeholders; what are the lawers looking for (and why); what are the truths that would be favorable or unfavorable to these groups and why. Can the truth be bent in such investigations? How? That description would in many human ways define our times...
GB