Salute!
As promised, I shall refrain from speculation on "causes" and "design" of the plane.
OTOH, fer jeeez friggin' sake!!!!! The "memory" is not encased in a stainless steel/titanium "crash survivable" container - like the the DFDR itself, and is attached to the OUTSIDE of the neat, orange qizmo!?! BEAM ME UP!!!!
Oh well, we had really good data from the Columbia breakup, and that sucker went thru a lot more heating and forces than the AF jet. Had some great stuff from the Buffalo loss of control crash. Decent stuff from the Airbus back in 2001. Hmmm.
And what is that beer can doofer at 1 o'clock in the pic?