Originally Posted by
xetroV
With that speed over the threshold, I believe the crew would never have received a
TOO LOW GEAR warning during the first approach; they would have received
TOO LOW TERRAIN instead (or another mode if that would have priority). I can see how a crew would discard the latter GPWS warning as being erroneous/nuisance when approaching a runway in VMC, especially a crew that had already lost their situational awareness due to extreme (probably self-induced) tunnel-vision.
Here's the mode 4a envelope.
So, if the data that they crossed the threshold at 210 knots (and where still over 190 when engine nacelles impacted) is correct, they never would have gotten the "TOO LOW GEAR" warning - just the EPCS "TOO LOW TERRAIN" which could easily dismissed as a nuisance during landing.
Looking at the photo of the CFM56-5 Gearbox in post #728, given the rather high rate of descent during the pod strike - the gearbox casing almost certainly would have fractured (it's cast so relatively brittle). Best case, they would have lost nearly all the engine oil almost instantaneously. It apparently didn't do catastrophic damage to the gearbox internals since they would have lost the fuel pump and the engine(s) would have quit in a few seconds.