mm43
...I see your point, a "Yaw" is a rotation, "nose right" is merely a crab. Whichever engine "digs in", the a/c has little time to accelerate around its "anchor" horizontally, the vertical is too fast. If the impact was mostly vertical, (BEA), the fuselage may have ruptured in classic form, fore the wing and aft, perhaps the tail separating at the Aft Bulkhead, the cockpit at the forward door. (The cockpit was close to, but separated from, the forward door, number one on the sea bed).
The VS hoops were deformed in a manner suggestive of a vertical exit with a slight twist to port (BEA), and relative to the fuselage.
I suggest it is not indicated that the tail hit first, number one, the Deck angle for tail strike is 17 degrees, and then only the belly portion at the break, up toward tail cone.
For the Empennage to hit first requires a deck angle of more than 17 degrees, and when adding that to the airflow, we approach rather closely to an AoA in excess of 90 degrees. Not supportable, unless in the rather wide parameterds of the Bear.
mm43..........
"....resulted in the damage described and allowed the safe departure of the Vertical Stabilizer as the empennage dug deep into the water - ...."
Hazelnuts39....
"In my mental 'model' the right wingtip digs in at about the same time as engine #1. Due to the difference in moment arm, the yawing moment imparted by the wing tip may well be greater than that of engine #1."
Hmmm..... How can right wing tip and #1 both be in the water and #2 DRY???
Last edited by bearfoil; 14th May 2011 at 22:55.