mm43. With reference to your pic in post 2067
http://www.pprune.org/5902693-post2067.html if AF447 comes in at a much higher pitch it is easier to get the water into the tail cone to bend the frames backwards (after failing underside skin, and perhaps the pressurising bulkhead) and pop off the VS due to water pressure, bending frames, as well as the vertical loads from the tail cone impact. Also the water pressure on the hull due to impact is always virtually perpendicular to the ‘cylinder’ so a high pitch and relatively high ‘forward’ speed stills gives the damage impression of landing with high ‘vertical speed’ with a ‘low’ forward speed . In this case there is also a short 'horizontal' deceleration as the horizontal stabilisers hit the water and the tail cone skin is torn and water penetrates the cone.. This provides the ‘forward damage of the A/C internals’, tears off the tail cone (trim tank sinks here) and allows the rest of the plane to go a relatively long way to form the ‘incoming’ leg of the slick albeit after loosing a large amount of forward velocity due to this tail cone failure.
Nothing new here, just interested in why the pitch on impact is not considered to be much higher.
FF
