Originally Posted by
Checkboard
it was an old wives tale in the company, and the Captain admitted that he had heard of it (as had everyone else), but never attempted it.
Boeing testified that the slats couldn’t deploy any other way (as they would, protecting their aircraft’s reputation.)
The CVR was found erased, and this was in the days when there was an erase button in the cockpit, ...........................................and the aircraft damage was such that many items were shorted.
The poor guy saved the aircraft with an amazing bit of flying after a serious upset, and was vilified for it, based on BS accusations
Well, that's certainly one evolution of the story over all the years. It doesn't sound unreasonable.