[drierice]

Regarding the current Air France disaster, I thought an explosion had been ‘ruled out’ based on the wide oil slick they found. As explained by a Brazilian official, the oil would have burned up.

Then they announced the debris in that area wasn’t from this plane.

So I wonder if the oil slick/no terrorism theory still applies. I still believe the aircraft most likely failed from the storm, but their one explanation to disprove terrorism may have been taken away.

[El Gato]

Regarding the current Air France disaster, I thought an explosion had been ‘ruled out’ based on the wide oil slick they found. As explained by a Brazilian official, the oil would have burned up. Even if that had been a slick from this aircraft, it would not necessarily follow that a slick proves no explosion. An explosion would probably not damage all the fuel tanks, or necessarily any of them. An explosion is over very quickly, and at that altitude there would not be much oxygen to support a fire outside the pressurized cabin. It's quite possible than a "small" explosive could open the cabin up, or damage the electrial system, (which is what the messages were apparently about) without igniting all, most or even any of the fuel. However it would tend to evaporate before it got to the surface, if it got out of the tanks at high altitude.