This case was essentially about evidence offered by opposing expert witnesses on what could cause a Boeing 737 to dive at full power, speed brakes in, without any warning, no radio calls, into the deck from 35,000 ft in daylight and fine weather. At impact the stabilizer trim was found at full electrical forward position. Yet only a few minutes earlier the FDR (before it was mysteriously disabled) recorded the stab trim at normal cruise position.
The expert witnesses for the plaintiffs included two highly experienced B737 captains.
The two expert witnesses for the defendants were a French retired test pilot who had never flown in command of a B737 and a British Professor of Aeronautics who had never held a pilots licence. In essence, the judge believed everything said by the latter two gentlemen and the evidence by the B737 captains was brushed aside.
I mean, would YOU seriously go to full power in a near vertical dive in order to pull out of a near 35,000 fpm on a clear day? The Professor claimed he would and the retired French test pilot agreed with him. And so did the judge, apparently.
You can draw your own conclusions.....
[ 25 October 2001: Message edited by: Hudson ]