Originally Posted by MartinM
Actually there are two time stamps. The first on is the sending time stamp. The second one, within the message, is the time of the generation.
Not exactly: the first one (precise stamp, like 0210:10) is the time stamp at "reception" of the ACARS. The only clue about the sending time is that it takes about 6 seconds to be processed between the aircraft and the satellite (both way). Hence, it was sent about 6 seconds before the receipt time stamp (an acknowledgement "successfully sent" is recieved by the aircraft 2 seconds later). By this way, it was assumed that the aircraft had crashed at the earliest at 0214:28 because the last recieved ACARS (0214:26) was processed up to the "successfully sent" return acknowleged by aircraft.
Now, the BEA confirms that she crashed in the same second at 0214:28.