, and hence impact forces are initially mostly vertical, pushing the light tailcone aft of frame 91 upwards against the rudder, crushing the rear fuselage structure while pushing the V/S upwards, causing the vertical acceleration that breaks arm 36g,
HazelNuts,
that's exactly the scenario that crossed my mind as well.
OldEngineer:
I was thinking that maybe the tip of the tailcone hit first, starting to cause damage to the cone especially when the HS starts to enter the water and the vertical drag in the water increasing enourmously, basically rupturing the entire tail structure.
In case of the middle and aft mounts it was the supporting structure that broke and not the clevisses. Maybe the aluminum structures surrounding the massive mounts had already been weakened by these forces.
That was my idea how the VS could have broken loose at a rather low decelleartion.
This sceanrio could also fit with the deformations of the frames in the tail (which seemed to show longitudinal compression in the upper parts) described by BEA, if I understood their description of the damage patterns correctly.