Therefore I'd suggest that there is a 25% chance that they had a failure which caused this.
I could maybe see one approach with the hope that you get lucky and see a hole but to fly 3, that is lunacy.
As you rightly say 3 attempts is lunacy, most guys attempt a 2nd approach down to DA and then divert if not visual. Which means we may be making an assumption that because 3 approaches were made these guys were taking an unneccesary risk without thought. Not really fair to them given that no-one here was on the flight deck at the time.
Without invoking confirmation bias the thinking that may have been applied by this crew was driven by what they may have thought were their only option i.e. to attempt to get into Cork at all costs. Which then possibly suggests a critical failure of some form....perhaps a fuel issue? There didnt appear to be any signs of fire on impact although clearly this does not suggest a low fuel situation.
Lets consider all options before we start blaming crew and apportioning the title of "cowboy" to operators...
