Quote:
Originally Posted by MR_BIGGS
How likely is it that the airplane disintegrated 35,000 ft in the air preventing any large debris falling into the water?
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Is that a serious question? Absolutely zero. If the aircraft broke apart or a bomb was set off at that altitude there would be thousands of pieces of debris floating on the surface spread over a very large area. From fuselage to luggage to seat cushions and bodies (or body parts).
If the aircraft was put in to an intentional dive it may be a different scenario. The aircraft would be supersonic very quickly even at idle throttle. If it "penciled in" ie. hit the water nose first straight down the impact would be devastating though much of the fuselage itself might remain intact trapping luggage and bodies inside and carrying them down. However the wings and probably tail would shear off and there would still be debris but it may be very localized. Without knowing the aircrafts exact location it would be like finding a needle in a haystack before the evidence eventually sinks and is carried away by the current. As it is the debris has already had 2-3 days to drift or sink.
Evidence of the aircraft will eventually be found. But with such a wide search area and no real starting point they may never find the black box of this one, and we will subsequently never know what happened onboard.