Originally Posted by
AGBagb
That's why I posed my "actual sequence of events" query a few pages back...... So far as I am aware, the only ATC mention of the state of the gear is *after* the first, failed landing, as they are turning back to try again.
Approach - to whom Tower have just transferred the a/c - ask
"Confirm you are ?carrying out? belly landing".
It's not easy to know exactly why Approach asks this question at that moment, and there's no clear answer from the struggling crew. Pure speculation - Approach have had a quick heads-up from Tower that the first landing was some form of no-gear.
I'm sure by now investigators know more, factually - but there don't seem to be any reliable reports (whether official or leaked) of what they actually do now know.
I hear a "why" in there
"Confirm why you are ?carrying out? belly landing"
Which puts a bit of a different slant on it.