Where does Sky Deck part 3 take place?

[Live-Hedgehog]

Sonic's first two parts of the level obviously take place under and on top of the left wing of the Egg Carrier, and it makes sense how he traverses it - entering the Sky Deck through the lower deck, being shot out of a cannon, destroying the turret then jumping through it, then traversing the wing, finally destroying another turret.

I assume he also jumps through the crater he made and enters Knuckles' part of the stage, so it has to take place underneath the wing area, closer to the bridge of the battleship than the entrance to the level, but where? The sky is above and behind Sonic (and Knuckles) when they go through this bit, but where on the ship could this happen? They are upright as near the gearstick at the top are observation decks with seats parralel to the floor, and so it's not as if the entire ship is upside down.

Using the free movement mode I've scoured every bit of the 2nd and 3rd sections to see where the 3rd bit takes place, but to no avail.

This has genuinely confused me ever since I picked up this game when I was 6, and I've never worked it out. The rest of the level is so well made, with views of the back engines in the first part of the level and the bridge in the second part of the level, conveying exactly where you are on the ship, and the damage you inflict can be seen in the CG cutscene afterwards (destroyed cannons, the 1st part of the wing torn off and the place where the planes take off gone too) so I can tell Sonic Team really cared about this level when they made it, but they dropped the ball on the 3rd part of the level.

Any ideas? It has to be somewhere in this image, surely...

 

[Big Panda]

If I had to make an educated guess, I'd say somewhere below or around the "armpit" of the wing. Based on the fact that Sonic ends up in the area after destroying that giant cannon.

Basically:

[Live-Hedgehog]

Ah yes, that does make a lot of sense. Thanks!

[MadmanRB]

Indeed as it looks to be a cargo area of some kind and or maybe the central location of the top of the ship.

[King Scoopa Koopa]

Don't discount the possibility that you might have already put more thought into it than they did when designing it.

[MadmanRB]

Well it does seem to make sense considering the structure of the Egg carrier.