ExSimGuy,
With respect, I beg to differ. The berm is a total red herring wrt this accident, except in that it helped to explain how the aircraft broke up.
If one follows your line of reasoning to its logical conclusion, one would have to conclude that, for example:
a. TPE, at the time of SQ006, when it was dark and the weather was bad, should have been closed to all traffic, because someone might have used the closed runway for takeoff or landing.
b. Tenerife airport, at the time of the KLM-Pan Am collision in 1977 when it was fogged in, should have been closed and no ground movements permitted, to prevent a collision.
c. No takeoffs or landings at any time, on any runway should have been allowed at YHZ while the berm was in place, as the possibility existed of an aircraft colliding with the berm. (If then you say the berm should never have been built in the first place, I couldn't argue with that. But how far do you take this no-obstacle-at-any-cost policy?).
Rockhound