Originally Posted by
Organfreak
Ian W sayeth,
Not asking argumentatively, and notwithstanding TV shows such as "CIS," would these doctors have any qualifications for judging such things?
warning not for the squeamish
They don't need "qualifications for judging such things". If the passengers recovered:
* show signs of drowning with water in the lungs etc. Then the impact was not sufficiently hard to kill the passengers.
* Show signs of explosive decompression with ruptured ear drums and associated signs of barotrauma it is possible the aircraft decompressed at high altitude
* have compression fractures and broken lower limbs etc. and no signs of drowning Then the impact was probably severe and the aircraft landed flat onto the surface of the water.
* have seatbelt bruising and associated inuries perhaps some with signs of submarining under the seatbelt, then the aircraft had significant forward velocity when it hit the surface.
etc etc. There are more but I don't think I should belabor the point.
Associate these simple observations with any deformation of the seats and airframe and you do not need a DFDR to show what the final seconds were.