It's also interesting that the BEA allowed Honeywell to dig into the electronics. In section 2.4.1 of the EUROCAE document: MINIMUM OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE SPECIFICATION FOR CRASH PROTECTED AIRBORNE RECORDER SYSTEMS, it states:
NOTE 1: Microscopic examination of the surface characteristics of memory
devices is not acceptable as means of data recovery.
NOTE 2: The repair of individual memory devices is not permitted.......
Seems a rather restrictive policy considering that all measures need to be applied to discover the truth - maybe it's a legal issue...
I would think this simply is a quote from the qualification/certification documents.
After the 'nominal' environmental tests, you're not allowed to 'demonstrate compliance' re data recovery by taking the data module apart and examining/interrogating the individual memory devices.
Once the 'real world has intervened', any method that can extract the data is only too welcome....
Edit: sorry, hadn't seen
YRPs post yet, which says much the same thing.