TC,
Earlier you knew what happened
Originally Posted by
Thomascoupling
It was CFIT. Pitch black moonless night, takeoff over a black ocean at 2 o'clock in the morning from a remote island, with probably little crew rest...but NO! The tailboom fell off just after they were airborne! Please.....
and now you’re saying we should wait?
Originally Posted by
Thomascoupling
Why don't we all wait and see where the NTSB pre-lim report says the tailboom was found. It might have been 20 feet from the fuselage or 2000 feet...we don't factually know at this point.
Also, CFIT doesn't preclude spatial disorientation...in many cases it's the result of it.
"Controlled flight" doesn't necessarily mean desired flight.
Your comment about the relationship between CFIT and disorientation is a valid point. In my mind there are three main categories:
- Loss of control due to mechanical failure.
- Loss of control (spinning, extreme attitudes, etc.) due to spatial disorientation.
- CFIT (straight in, slow spiral, etc.) due to disorientation
The latter two may be precipitated by system or component failures as well as the myriad other factors noted (darkness, crew fatigue, etc.)
The photos show substantial damage to the left side not evident on the right, suggesting that it didn’t plow straight in but with a substantial sideward component. To me this suggests 1 or 2, though perhaps some damage came from a secondary impact.
Ultimately, we’ll just have to wait for the evidence. A horrible tragedy in any case.