@ Takata, mm43, PJ2, Machinbird, Gums et al...
Can I be allowed to say this?:
(I am SLF and a very frustrated pilot. I should have done my licence years and years ago so that I could work amongst the likes of you people here.)
I would like to say that I am so incredibly amazed at the dedication you have all shown to finding the cause of this incident. The knowledge being shown by all contributors to this thread is simply astounding. From pilots, to engineers, to radio experts, to airframe experts and weather experts etc... - the collective brains thinking about this in the public domain is truly remarkable.
I am convinced that your collective thoughts are not too far from the truth of what happened. Once all the data is - hopefully - retrieved from the FDR and CVR etc... I am sure many of you will be proven mostly right in your assumptions of what happened to AF447
So - from one small guy who reads this thread daily - I would like to thank all of you on behalf of us.. the public... for your true professionalism and dedication to unlocking the events surrounding the sad demise of AF447.
I sincerely hope that the many authorities (who surely read these forums) take on board what has been learned here, and still to be learned from this incident, and apply many improvements to make flying safer for us all.
My heartfelt thanks on behalf of the PUBLIC...!