[Mr Ramsbotham]

Actually I was thinking that if the airplane broke up suddenly the forces applied would have killed them. I recall reading a report about Flight 800 that said all the victims’ necks were broken.

[DoughtyOne]

I would suspect those effects would be even more prominent in this crash. I agree with your reasoning here.

[RightOnTheLeftCoast]

"Actually I was thinking that if the airplane broke up suddenly the forces applied would have killed them."

Not if some reports are true and the plane was flying slowly due to sensor malfunctions. The forces involved could be no worse than a bad car wreck.

I'm expecting the slow-speed conjecture will gain weight in the coming days. One or both engine and/or the composite tail or flight-control surfaces might have sheared off as a consequence of abrupt side winds on a plane traveling too slowly. As AA587 showed--even if you believe the official explanation, which became even more questionable after the Air Transat flight from Cuba lost its rudder--the Airbus tail assembly is laterally weak, and in AA587's case both engines came off as the plane spiraled, too. I'm suspecting something similar happened, a big tragic cascade of structural failures exacerbated by the Airbus' reliance on flight systems automation.