If there is even a small kernel of 'fact' in the Le Figaro "sensationalist" story, it may be associated with the BEA recovering, as a priority, the captain's seat, the co-pilot's seat, and the "fourth occupant's" seat, and two bodies in seats.
The bodies are being subjected to DNA analysis because of decomposition once they were raised from the pressure and temperature that preserved them. Other descriptions are that the 50 or so bodies in the wreckage area are in a waxen state, and possibly, or even probably, all have already been photographed. Presumably these two bodies were photographed as well before ascent. Beyond the prior photography, one could also use clothing, jewelry, dental records to help identify bodies from these depths.
The BEA and the French judicial authorities were surely told well in advance what was likely to happen to AF 447 bodies if raised to the surface as these were, so it would seem that these bodies were raised not as a random test, but in the course of recovery of those three seats in the cockpit.
So was the BEA, on the basis of the seats and bodies recovered, already anticipating to hear something on the CVR?
And to get in the realm of sensationalism, are the bodies those of the two FOs, or is only one that of a FO?
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A lurking question in my mind is why would the Le Figaro reporter specifically call attention to Air France's security procedures? (And I don't for a second believe this is terrorism related in any way.)
Last edited by SaturnV; 17th May 2011 at 09:32.