Originally Posted by
Clearedtoreenter
Not sure if the tape is actual or a reenactment... but they sound tired. Hard to believe that in the normal run of things that a person qualified to be a 747 Captain would make such a basic error to accept a clearance to 400 that far away. The FO is flying but sounds concerned. The Captain seems over assertive and makes the decision to press on. Perhaps heavy fatigue played a role.
Not only did the Captain incorrectly interpret the clearance and read back "four zero zero" (400'), he also later told the FO to continue down to four hundred feet on one video I have seen based on the CVR. See (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlPL_nof2lA) at about 7min 35seconds to around 7 mins 43 seconds. Still no one twigged. Unless the crew did not have adequate rest in Singapore they should not have been overly fatigued. They started their duty at Singapore.