Lead Sled:
The guy is highly experienced, over a broad aviation spectrum, is far more knowledgeable than many pilots I know, and is highly articulate.
Deliberately or otherwise, you're missing the point. We all know his qualifications (we're told often enough) and he does indeed write well, but I'm not even sure about the "more knowledgeable" bit (some of his comments about the B777, when discussing MH370, are open to debate). But isn't it arrogance and just bad form to get up there and pontificate publicly, wearing his four gold bars and all, about the cause of the accident when he can't possibly know all of the facts? I suspect (sadly) that he may well be right, but where's the professionalism and respect here? Despite his greater qualifications (no, sorry, at least he's got qualifications), doesn't rushing into print in the immediate aftermath place him in the same category as the much lampooned GT?
And, in today's "Australian", a simply amazing quote from BB:
"This suggests to me that the captain panicked..."
How the hell does he know this, considering they've yet to even recover the CVR? Or did BB swim down there and recover it himself? This comment is insultingly derogatory to a fellow pilot, offensive to the entire proffession and, I suspect, bordering on the slanderous.