PARIS — The Air France Airbus 330 that crashed into the Atlantic on June 1, killing all 228 people aboard, did not break up in the air but rather hit the water intact, French investigators said on Thursday.
. . .
One of the maintenance messages indicated a rapid change in cabin pressure, which might have meant depressurization. But depressurization could occur without breakup, experts said.

Alain Bouillard, who is leading the French investigation, said that “visual examination of the debris shows that the plane hit with the bottom of its fuselage with very strong vertical acceleration.” Shelves in the galley had compressed to the bottom, he said, among other evidence. . . .

It has emerged that the same sequence of events occurred in six cockpit emergencies reported by Airbus pilots over a year beginning in February 2008. . . .

One of the messages showed a change of cabin pressure equal to an altitude change of more than 1,800 feet (548 meters) per minute, said Airbus spokesman Stefan Schaffrath.

PARIS — Air France, facing pressure from some of its pilots after the crash of one of its airliners last week, has decided to immediately replace airspeed sensors on all of its A330 and A340 jets, union representatives said Tuesday. . . .

William Waldock, who teaches air crash investigation at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Arizona, . . .Waldock — who examined the photos and video of the stabilizer and rudder — said the damage he saw looks like a lateral fracture.

“That would reinforce the idea that the plane broke up in flight,” he said. “If it hits intact, everything shatters in tiny pieces.”

http://www-tc.pbs.org/newshour/bb/transportation/587crash/splash_image.jpg

Arthur

And voila. Airplane in the drink. It breaks up on or near the surface.

I *really* hope they find the black box. My money is that the fault is on BOTH the pilot and the computer.

. . .Air France notices temporary loss of airspeed data lasting several minutes during cruise on A330/340 jets due to icing.

Air France presses Airbus for a solution. According to the airline, Airbus says using the same sensors recommended for the smaller A320 would not solve the problems witnessed at cruise height and reiterates established operating procedures. . . .
Q1 2009

“If a ship goes down beaconed life-boats pop off and automatically inflate. Surely aircraft have similar systems??”

Aircraft frequently fly over water and, sometimes land in water (Hudson River landing).
It puzzles me why aircraft parts,wings especially but also tailplane structures and the lower section of fuselage bodies are not built with foam inserts so that they float.
I realise that it would take up room but would stop aircraft from sinking to the bottom of wherever it did its watery landing. A larger break-up would yield many floating parts.