Originally Posted by
robmckenna
Checkpoint on Radio NZ today interviewed the passenger Bill Jaynes, Editor of the local Kaselehlie Press. He made the following observations regarding the landing and the misinformation being published: "...I could see the truck stop, dock, which is about a mile and half away [on the Port side of the aircraft], it was not raining, as the pilot claims, and every passenger and every rescuer will tell you that, and my thought as I was watching the vapour trails off the wing as we descended was, usually when we are this low we are on the runway but that's not happened, and then we were in the water. But I didn't know we were in the water, My personal opinion and the opinion of many of the passengers I have talked to is: Pilot error, he was too low, and at the last moment he made the most of a bad situation that perhaps he had created..."
The eyewitness account appears to be from a person who knows Weno well. If so, then looking out the "left" side of descending aircraft, which then you note apparently obvious landmarks placing the aircraft beyond the airport and still descending towards the water (you can see 1.5 miles, vs water immediately out your window) would probably have led to the realisation that they were about to go swimming. LEFT=RIGHT?