Something discussed on Fox News a day or two ago, which I frankly hadn’t thought of, suggests that the recorders will likely not yield the crucial information being sought even if they’re recovered, because of the amount of time captured on them. For instance, the cockpit voice recorder only records two hours’ worth of time before it begins to re-record over itself. Likewise the flight data recorder is limited. Consquently, the information regarding what was happening at the time of the mysterious change in the jet’s direction may no longer exist. It also makes me wonder if that’s why, if simple suicide was the intent, the plane wasn’t just taken down pretty much immediately. For purposes of insurance payouts to family, or even just to create a mystery, the pilot responsible may have extended the flight specifically so that the recorder data, when/if recovered, would be all but worthless.
Yep --
The one thing the black box should tell however is the speed the plane was flying when it hit the water -- and thus the survivability of the pilot or anyone onboard.
If the BBs are found, then investigators should be able to determine how it went down -- did it run out of fuel and fall, did the pilot crash it, or did the pilot land it in hopes of swimming away from it.
The plane may have been scuttled in one piece at that location where a boat was waiting to pick the pilot up for the start of his new life.