TWCobra
Senior Member.
The photos I have seen show an unburnt nose and tail section, and the burnt out mid section. The mid section us where the fuel is located.
This suggests to me that the aircraft broke up after the missile strike, possibly due to aerodynamic and centrifugal forces associated with, say a wing falling off. The aircraft would have had a true airspeed of almost 1000 km/h and the laws of physics means the wreckage gets spread over a wide area in this case.
With an aircraft in early cruise, many people including the flight attendants would have been out of their seats. Many of them would have been thrown out of the disintegrating fuselage and fallen at terminal velocity. Many would also have been still in their seats.
This suggests to me that the aircraft broke up after the missile strike, possibly due to aerodynamic and centrifugal forces associated with, say a wing falling off. The aircraft would have had a true airspeed of almost 1000 km/h and the laws of physics means the wreckage gets spread over a wide area in this case.
With an aircraft in early cruise, many people including the flight attendants would have been out of their seats. Many of them would have been thrown out of the disintegrating fuselage and fallen at terminal velocity. Many would also have been still in their seats.