PickyPerkins wrote:-
There seem to be many questions about the fact that bodies found floating on the surface of the sea were not belted to seats, but that in contrast their spinal injuries are consistent with them having been in seats and belted at the time of impact, and subject to high vertical acceleration.
Are you sure they were belted in? I believe the consensus of opinion in this thread is that the bodies that were recovered were
not belted in. Some may have been seated and others not. It is my opinion that there were "g" forces involved right from the commencement of loss of control that precluded unseated or non-belted persons from regaining their seats or securing a seat belt. Exactly how or when they received their injuries will never be known, but the FDR when recovered may shed some light on that issue.
We know that the vertical kinetic energy at impact was high. Exactly what it was can possibly be deduced from careful forensic analysis of the recovered debris. A photo in the BEA Interim Report No.2 shows the front edge of an overhead luggage compartment bent forward slightly. That in itself isn't very helpful in determining the horizontal kinetic energy as we don't know anything about what was in the locker, i.e. size, weight or distance it may have moved.
As Machinbird has already pointed out the mechanics of this breakup are complex. However, the BEA has placed some emphasis on the vertical descent rate and then said "nothing" about the horizontal component other than mentioning the aircraft impacted "en ligne de vol" with positive attitude and the tail yawing to port. I am sure the BEA has managed to put some numbers on both these vectors, but are astute enough not to muddy the waters should recovery of the DFDR and CVR reveal something else.
mm43