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Old 3rd June 2011 | 05:11
  #1200 (permalink)  
Graybeard
 
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 896
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From: SoCalif
The modern jetliner gets its vertical speed from the IRU, Inertial Reference Unit. The IRU measures in 3 axes, as that's how the plane travels. It is apparent that all the velocity was in the Z axis, so the plane was dropping at 10,912 fpm, or 107 knots. There must have been near zero horizontal velocity when the plane hit.

AOA vane has physical stops. It has to be 35-40 degrees, so greater than 40 degrees AOA can only be calculated from the IRU, which data has apparently not been released, and the BEA are quoting AOA only from the vanes. I'm betting real AOA at the end was 100-120 degrees.
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