SaturnV
I don't disagree, have I intimated somehow she was South/LKP?? At any time??
What I do say is if takata is right, re: the "Direction of Flight", and the indexing of the engines, then AF447 was 'heading' ENE when she hit. This in no way conflicts with the "direction" of the debris, his thesis is workable either orientation of the a/c at impact. The engines will be first down, and if the current didn't alter its direction, (much) then the lighter debris merely overtook (horizontally) the heavy stuff and landed "beyond" it, later. The fact is, since the ENE direction puts the lighter stuff further East than the heavy things, it gives some leeway (timewise) for the light things to travel further than the engines in the horizontal.
I am thinking the pilots deviated left/right of the airway, and at some point beyond it (the LKP), made the decision to return to land back in Brazil, (or other, dependent on severity of the circumstances). Having completed the turn, they were on a heading back when LOC happened, and she went down quickly. We don't know her heading at LKP, merely that she flew through it.
Even if on the airway, they may have turned back, and the "new" heading was WSW, but displaced the width of the diameter of the turning circle (something like 4nm). This pretty cleanly falls in line with the Impact Point.
If BEA is holding fast to "no position" South, fine by me, how is that fatal to the discussion?? Except to say, they may have evidence not released. Oh, and the fact that AF447 was S of the LKP the entire flight, until her passage through LKP.
Last edited by bearfoil; 8th May 2011 at 00:08.