With all respect to the men who lost their lives,
For another possiblity for the cause of this accident one could look at another 747 classic that had problems becoming airborne and crashed in 1974 at Nairobi, Kenya.
http://aviation-safety.net/database/1974/741120-0.htm
Narrative:
Boeing 747 D-ABYB was taking off for the last leg of the Frankfurt-Nairobi-Johannesburg flight when the crew felt vibration or buffeting following lift off. The captain, suspecting wheel imbalance, raised the gear. A lack of acceleration forced the crew to lower the nose in order to maintain airspeed. The Boeing continued to descend however and contacted the ground 1120m past the end of runway 24 and struck an elevated road 114m further on. The aircraft broke up and caught fire before coming to rest 454m past the initial point of impact.
PROBABLE CAUSE: "The accident was caused by the crew initiating a take-off with the leading edge flaps retracted because the pneumatic system which operates them had not been switched on. This resulted in the aircraft becoming airborne in a partially stalled condition which the pilots did not identify in the short time available to them for recovery. Major contributory factors were the lack of warning of a critical condition of leading edge flap position and the failure of the crew to complete satisfactorily their checklist items."
I don't want to jump to conclusions or blame anyone prematurely for the accident, I'm merely interested in the hows and whys of all accidents as a student of aerospace engineering. I have some knowledge of the 747's systems, but remember I'm a student, not aircrew.
I imagine this could still be possible with one of todays (heavier) classics, but please, correct me if I'm wrong.
My sincere condolences to ones who lost someone dear.
