Debris recovery, media, 'explosion', 3km
peekay: "No professional investigator or materials engineer would be confused by scrapes or scratches from the recovery effort."
I don't know if I would go that far, but the recovery crew needs to be cut some slack. My first reaction on the winch-aboard' was 'they're squashing it'. But the "tail" was more like a paper bag ripped open than an airplane, with one heavy, rigid piece (v stab) still attached. The 3D structural strength of the tail portion below water was insufficient out of water. The entire section would have required a redundant structure built around it to maintain the section's shape. The subsurface work would have to be performed over days with little visibility in what amounts to a cyclone of current flow. And there are more pieces waiting to be recovered.
News media so far is reinforcing the observation that there is nothing it can be told that it cannot screw up, misinterpret, take to the most illogical extreme, ignore language differences, fail to ask for clarification, or let die as inaccurate. We can be sure that every blind alley and patently false notion will be given equal, or sometimes even more earnest, concerned emphasis than clear statements of fact. We can further anticipate the errors, misinterpretations etc etc etc will be repeated and repeated and repeated by photogenic but otherwise clueless talking heads, referencing one another and welcoming false prophets and experts chosen for their dialectic positions until falsehoods approach the refined virtual news reality which is where news viewers are expected to function and like it. The statement of 'explosion by air pressure' is interesting, but has already been grabbed by media and morphed into Frankenstein. Pprune is a place supposedly sheltered from such media fallout but is not immune to it.
3km between FDR/CVR and tail section is a significant distance on smooth paving, and farther on water. We are lacking the early stages of a debris field map, overlays of current, and updates. Hopefully they will begin appearing.