At first, I would like to thank you all for this really interesting thread !
After reading your posts I was thinking of an unrecovered spin as there is not much distance between LKP and crash site.
But ZeeDoktor did the maths and found 350ft/s... Not likely to be a spin...
That makes it 21.000ft/min almost a 200kt vertical speed (free-fall?). What about the fact that BEA hypothesis is a close to horizontal water contact.
I have further questions some people following this thread might answer :
What are the consequences of a high speed stall ? On a swept back wing ?
My guess are : First you lose altitude then static pressure rise and compressability effects are weaker.
Assuming this, would the airfoil recover lift by itself after a high speed stall ?
What if only one wing enters a high speed stall ? Self destruction might be more likely than spin at that speed isn't it ?