Chris
Looking at the debris field, there are a few observations to be made :
1/- Suppose the aircraft hit the surface flat, with no forward displacement of any sort (i.e that's the result of either a stall or a flat spin, right ?)
Looking at the solid, densest parts one could find in this mapping, we should find the silhouette of the airplane.
Not so
2/- Now let's pose a forward displacement with some momentum at the decelerationat the water surface :
The densest parts we're talking about will be spread on the field by their order of impact / destruction of the structure around them.
Here, that's the case : The sidesticks touched the bottom before the THS jackscrewwhile there was some residual displacement.
Therefore, whether one likes or not the BEA's *ligne de vol* expression, their posit of an "attitude equivalent to cruising attitude", a high vertical speed and "some" hoprizontal speed is quite well matched.