Brazil: Air France Crash Bodies Show Fractures

Source: AP

Experts say autopsies on victims of the Air France disaster suggest the plane broke up in the air.

A spokesman for Brazilian medical examiners says they had multiple fractures of legs, hips and arms.

The official spoke to The Associated Press on Wednesday on condition he not be named due to department rules.

A forensic expert who once worked at the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board says those injuries could mean the plane broke apart in air.

Frank Ciacco says large chunks of the plane recovered are another clue.

Ciacco says bodies and debris would be severely fragmented if the jet crashed intact.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

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If the plane hit the water at sufficient impact (which is not very fast), then all sorts of fractures could happen as well.

To rule out a bomb?

large chunks means the bodies free fell to the ocean.

also cause multiple fractures?

I thought it was already pretty established that it broke apart in mid-air which accounted for the debris spread.

That said, is "broke apart" different than specifically stating "exploded?"

Not making any accusations, just leaving open all possibilities

in tact but as an out-of-control speeding projectile?

if the plane hit the water at speed the bodies would have been pretty much ripped apart. A plane breaking up in mid air would cause fractures but the bodies would still be intact upon hitting the water if I understood it correctly.

The fact that they're intact with fractures suggests that the bodies decelerated before hitting the water. A body hitting the water after a 30,000 foot free fall will hit the water at about 120 MPH. An intact A330 plunging from 30,000 feet can hit the water at over 600 MPH. The fact that the bodies are in one piece suggests that they were thrown from the plane at sufficient altitude to decelerate before hitting the water.

The fact that they have also found more than 50 bodies hints at something else as well. Pan Am 103 demonstrated that seatbelted passengers will remain attached to their seats even when ejected at cruising speed. The fact that these bodies were found seperated from the wreckage suggests that they weren't belted in.

Could mean...

This is how conspiracy theories get started. Someone releases an early statement about a possibility, and people latch on to that as ironclad forensic evidence that overrides all carefully collected and analyzed data found in the following months by trained professionals with the time and resources to recreate the entire scenario.

Maybe it did, maybe it didn't, but we won't know until the evidence is analyzed anyway, so what's the point of publishing partial statements from unnamed sources, anyway?

that the pilots may have had at least some control at the time the plane hit the water--the remark that at least some of the fuselage hit the water flat seems to bear that out.

A forensic expert who once worked at the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board says those injuries could mean the plane broke apart in air.

Frank Ciacco says large chunks of the plane recovered are another clue.

Ciacco says bodies and debris would be severely fragmented if the jet crashed intact.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iOegnahAFcEgwJZ4WKGkVz9Dgq5wD98SI6980

A section of fuselage could come down in a flat trajectory. Remember TWA 800 they found many of the bodies intact. Large portions of the fuselage and cockpit may have come down intact and broke apart on hitting the water or broke apart as it fell.