I have made my feelings on the usefulness of the WSJ aviation reports before. From that 'news' article:-
The approach can be difficult at night and in bad weather because pilots have to bank and circle while ensuring they line up with the runway. If they turn too sharply, the plane can end up too high and too fast, without enough time to make the proper descent.
Sounds exactly like what I call a circling approach?
According to the people familiar with the inquiry, the plane had trouble maintaining steady altitude in the turn, possibly because of strong winds. Air-traffic controllers and navigation equipment provided a landing path to the pilots, who circled the airport to land. The pilots failed to stop their turn in time and didn't correctly line up the aircraft with the runway. Then the plane, according to people familiar with the probe, stalled and the pilots lost control.
OK - so they went through the centreline and stalled
. Those 'winds' can make it really difficult to 'maintain steady altitude'
? Perhaps they mean 'turbulence'?
The aircraft ended up continuing for several miles before plunging into the Indian Ocean, according to the people familiar with the inquiry.
Ah! It didn't stall then? In fact it was not even turning finals.
All in all a really useful article
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