I would have thought that the results of such high impact forces between water and an essentially-frangible hollow tube with heavy, specifically-located structures such as engines, landing gear, wing-boxes, spars and APU, would have been obvious but perhaps I am mistaken and that the violence of such a collision is being under-estimated.
PJ2,
Agreed. Keep in mind that if we assume the initial impact was on the tail of the plane, a secondary violent impact could have thrown everything forward towards the nose, dispersing debris and large objects, and creating jarring destruction.
One question. With so many pieces of the plane found, will they at some point begin to build a reconstruction jig?