1. Aircraft was most likely not in controlled flight (more likely stalled). Had the stall been a simple "nose falls stall" it would a) have been more recoverable and b) likely been arrested before impact with the sea during the five mile plummet.
Well, the latest (Dec 2009 IIRC) report does seem to indicate the aircraft was near-wing level upon water contact.
3. Debris field has been subject to various oceanic influence, which were not necessarily aligned with the direction of flight. Unlike a crash that hits the ground, final resting place of this aircraft after impact will move ... in this case, due to both wind and water mass movements.
Point taken... still was the first thing that looked very odd. I would suspect that even upon water contact some forward moment (and some was supposed to have been present judging from material analysis) would've remained and would have formed at least the basic "spread" before floating to the seabed. But yes, I see your point. Too little info to make an (educated) guess.
Put another way, I'd be stunned if the debris field were to have coincided with the selected course (NNE) that was to take the flight to Paris. Had they been able to maintain course/heading, I doubt they'd have crashed at all.
Fully agree on that point. Too confused about both the location and the spread.
D.