deSitter, the airplane flying thingie would have told us it had lost the VS if it came off the plane at the beginning of this sequence. It did not tell us it got an owie on its tail feathers. Therefore, we can pretty well conclude its tail feathers were present until the pretty flying winged silvery cigar quit speaking to us either because of a fatal owie or a deep pout over losing its things what make it go.
Yes, Joanne IS getting tired of this.