Originally Posted by RR NDB
I agree with you that "En Ligne de Vol" is a fantasy
You must be ignorant of extensive discussions of this phrase in earlier editions of this thread. The phrase is used in the very last "Finding" of the first interim report, that is an unfortunate collection of ambiguous, inexact descriptions of the impact conditions. (The english translation is even worse). The BEA has evidently recognized their error, and has carefully rephrased it in impeccable engineering language in the second interim report:
L’examen de l’ensemble des débris confirme que l’avion a heurté la surface de l’eau avec une assiette positive, une faible inclinaison et avec une vitesse verticale importante.
I frankly fail to see the merit of continuing to refer to the poorly worded first edition, since it has been corrected.