Originally posted by SaturnV ...
.... the BEA is adamant that AF 447 was never south of the LKP.
I think that the original comment by Jean-Paul Troadec, was intended to mean that the crash position was not south of the LKP. By that I believe he, or anyone else for that matter, had no idea where the aircraft was going after the final AOC report at 0210z.
The point I am making is, that as posited by
takata, the aircraft may well have been airborne for some time after 02:14:30z, - and could well have ventured south of the LKP. On the other-hand, as pointed out by the MAK/IAC, - dives, spirals and spins can result in rapid loss of altitude and the impact position is often close to the point of upset. I don't think we have determined whether the UAS (if it was) resulted in an immediate LOC, and therefore it is difficult to understand that an effective distance of less than 5NM was covered between 0210z and the Impact Point, at whatever time that occurred.