Originally Posted by
Bend alot
This suggests something was wrong 3 or 10 seconds prior to the start of MCAS first activation.
Perhaps this was a symptom of being overweight? Not only did the captain ask to continue runway heading and say flight control problems, but the DFDR data looks a little odd (at least to me). There's a pretty steep pitch up initially (yanking it off at the end of the runway?), a shallow climb profile, and then a bit of sink when flaps retract.
The Preliminary Report says they were a around 1,130 pounds under Regulated Takeoff Weight, but they seem to have assumed around 167 lbs./pax (incl. carry on bags). If you use a more standard 190 lbs., I think you come in a couple of thousand lbs. over RTOW. And who knows how they calculated RTOW. The temp was rising so if they used an old METAR to make the calculation, they would have underestimated density alt. And I'm not sure the pax count includes crew: were they included in the Operating Empty Weight?
FWIW, does it look to anyone else like they were ferrying fuel? 10,700 kg = 23,540 lbs. I've read t/o fuel is around 1,500 lbs. and cruise is around 4,500 lbs. Nairobi was less than an hour away. I believe it was VMC. No idea what the airline's reserve policy is, but if they carried enough for the return to Addis Ababa plus 45 min., they'd need a total of around 14,000 lbs., not 23,540.
Am I all wet here? Did I do the math wrong? If not, is a couple of thousand lbs. over RTOW not a concern?
If they were heavy, and the plane wasn't climbing as expected, would that provide a reasonable explanation for why the crew never reduced power?