Accident report is now out on the French website.
The airplane was registered in Guinea with virtually no government oversight. The company gave virtually no operational oversight. Most documentation and history had to be dug up by the French. One passenger bought their ticket from a checked in pax. Many had not fastened their seat belt.
The flight crew was a bunch of Libyans. The aircraft was well overweight for the length of runway but should have been able to fly if the C of G was not way forward of limits making rotation extremely difficult and resulting in a collision with a localiser building beyond the runway.
Due to weight concerns, the copilot said to a company officer in the jumpseat before taxi, "...you will see when the aircraft will takeoff or we will crash into the sea".
The captain planned that after takeoff they would climb at three degrees maximum to gain airspeed and not turn after takeoff as per clearance(due to worries about stalling??).
We finally get to see what really happens in one of these African accidents. I wish the French had discussed a bit more about the planned takeoff procedure.
http://www.bea-fr.org/docspa/2003/3x...x-o031225a.pdf In english this time.
Does anyone have links to other obscure crash reports in full detail. Perhaps in South America as well and in English.