Please correct me if I'm wrong, but the conclusions (or inferences) reported in the NY Times article seem rather contradictory, given what I recall regarding previous crashes of large commercial planes under a wide variety of circumstances.
In true mid-air breakups, my recollection is the bodies tend to be comparatively intact. For example, the Iranian A300 mistakenly downed by a US missile in 1988, which also occurred over a body of water.
Perhaps that is partly due to the speed (energy) at impact of a powered, aerodynamic plane versus a less aerodynamic, and unpowered free-falling human body (whether by itself or strapped to a seat or seat row). Providing that does not conflict with general principles of gravity for falling objects.
Plus, when a body falls separate from the plane, there isn't all the metal (and other objects) that on impact contribute to (uh, I think we all know what, no need to be more graphic).
Relatively large pieces of debris also tend to be found, especially those that break away and 'float' down (so to speak). Physics of terminal velocity.
Whereas the 'shredding' (of remains and plane parts) - which the NY Times article suggests happened here - tends to be consistent with a high speed impact of a relatively intact aircraft, whether in water or swamp (eg, ValueJet in the Everglades) or otherwise.
The one way I can attempt to reconcile the seeming contradiction is if the Egyptian source is trying to say something broke off the plane (such as a vital control surface), which then caused the plane -- still relatively intact and with the occupants still inside -- to impact the water at high speed/steep angle of entry.
That might possibly explain the 'shredding' and (partly) the lack of large floating objects such as the vertical stabilizer, or other large relatively flat-buoyant objects one might expect to find in a true mid-air 'breakup' (especially when search aircraft were up and boats searching not too long after the crash, and presumably would have spotted those objects if floating).
Note: as I finished typing this, AO283 also seems to have noted some seeming inconsistencies with a true 'mid-air breakup.'
Last edited by Passenger 389; 24th Jul 2016 at 02:13.