Chris Scott some interesting questions are raised in your latest post and unfortunately I do not have any information to answer them. I would be looking for the THS trying to see what angle it was set at to give me a clue to the aircraft's pitch and depending on how much fuel it contained the aircraft cg.
When I looked at the Ethiopian 767 crash I wad struck by how easily the aircraft disintigrated and how the pieces were scattered,many in a random direction in comparison to the original direction of flight This crash happened in daylight in a conventional aircaft that was servicable apart from both engines being flamed out due to fuel starvation. The crew would have mentally prepared themselves for flying a glider with an associated ditching having spent some time trying to convince the hijackers that they did not have sufficient fuel to reach the hijackers intended destination. I believe there was a last minute loss of control was due to a struggle between the hijackers and the pilots.
Contrast this with the AF crew who seem to have been rapidly confronted
with their situation and their demise within minutes of whatever happened at night over a very dark sea