Flight Data oversight.......?
Maybe this has been mentioned before but one of the most troubling aspects of the crash for me is almost certainly (yet to be confirmed) the likely lack of flight data oversight. It seems obvious to me that the crew knew that they would not be pinged by flight data monitoring. That is to say the such a cavalier approach could be flown with no adherence to conventional flight envelopes that would surely be at least loosely spelled out in company procedures let alone the complete failure to satisfy the stable approach criteria. They must have known that there was never going to be blow back over this, perhaps this will be shown to be incorrect but I have my doubts, this can’t be the first time these guys flew like this.
Where I operate, you can be sure that should you get an EGPWS hard alert, or caution for that matter or a GEAR NOT DOWN alert and fail to bug out, you will get a phone call. You’ll need to submit a report either way and if you don’t.......once again, you’ll get a phone call. It’s a double edge sword of flying with big brother in the jump seat at all times and yet knowing that your colleagues and family are much safer whenever they step on board. Seems to have served us very well over time.
I wonder if Airbus and Boeing might consider pushing regulators to step up random audits of flight data, it would at least be in the interests of underwriters if no one else.
Thoughts?