Originally Posted by
SASless
For Not a Boffin.....even the LSO's were not aware of a problem until the very final moments as they. had no indication of a problem from any one or any thing.
Which was the entire point of my post which you seemed to think was "absolutely the least important". The LSO have visual indication of everything else, gear down and locked, hook down etc. They don't have visual ID that APCM is engaged or not - which was the thrust of the recommendations to NAVAIRSYSCOM and LM to look at it.
The LSO is the last link in the safety chain - and in an SHB, they have limited time to tell whether on or off glideslope. If they can't visually or aurally ID that all the main items are "green" then they can't provide that function and can't wave-off in time.
None of which gets away from the fact that it was pilot error. If you're at min throttle - for whatever reason (too much trust in the machine, failure to follow checklist, simple switchology), the simple fact is that you can't be following the meatball, sink rate must be below requirement. The meatball must have been at least amber, if not red.