Originally Posted by
Kulverstukas
There is no evidence of right turn except poorly drawn draft of a/c route, presented at the first press-conference, when rescue operation just started.
Oooppsss...
I thought it was something confirmed.
Sorry to include it in my guesses...
If flaps were retracted too soon and a/c lost lift it may be that they reached 350kmh nose down but it was not enough to arrest descent before hitting sea surface. Out of height, out of options. But the poor souls were maybe closer to salvation than we may think.
This could happen if things went "the simpler of mistakes the bigger the problem".
The AC took off with flaps 15º, once airborne PiC commanded "gear up" and the FO made THE mistake: flaps up.
Normally the retraction of gears is in the region of 5 to 8 seconds after being airborne.
As far as I could chronometre, flaps from 15º to 0º take 18 secs.
It's VERY possible all in the 70 seconds (is this timing confirmed, Mr. Kulverstukas?) because once the flaps retraction begins, also begins the lack of lift, in geometrical progression, hitting waters at 300+ km/h and destroying the AC.