Controlled descent / ditching
Someone still flying at the end
A pilot or system flies a glide after flame-out, so the wreck lies tens of kilometres from the 7th arc. Flaperon damage is read by some independent engineers as consistent with a ditching sequence.
If the aircraft remained controllable after 00:19, search boxes on the arc can miss it. Independent papers (including “Final Two Communications… Eastward Descent”) argue the last SATCOM pair supports a controlled path. French flaperon notes have been read both ways. The official investigation did not adopt a ditching finding. It is a live geometric hypothesis, not a confirmed landing.
Sources
- Independent SATCOM end-of-flight papers
- DGA-TA flaperon examination
Related
Right flaperon — Réunion
Found 29 July 2015 · confirmed 3 September 2015 as 9M-MRO
Handshake 7 — aircraft-initiated log-on
00:19:29 UTC · probable fuel exhaustion
Fuel exhaustion, then uncontrolled descent at the 7th arc
Prevailing official end-of-flight model
No 406 MHz ELT detection
Emergency locator transmitter never heard
Right flaperon found on Réunion
29 July 2015
The 7th arc
00:19:29 UTC aircraft-initiated log-on
Capt. Patrick Blelly & Jean-Luc Marchand
Independent trajectory paper