DK FCI
thanks for the stuff on the compass and light. a hurried line up on runway and the whiskey compass might not have settled down, the flux valve compass/dg etc may have been wrong or right, we won't know unless the FDR's show heading and even if a FRACTION of a second showed somewhere near 220 degrees, we can throw that fact into the equation.
what is annoying to me is that if the cockpit and instrument lights were set for a night takeoff, the seperate light switch for the compass really shouldn't exist, if the other gauges can be seen, so should the compass.
another part of the equation.
however, still the biggest factor will be: WHICH PILOT REMARKED about the runway lights being OFF. As I said in previous post, CRM, a tone in the cockpit allowing for questions and ANSWERS is vital.
Add in that the copilot was 9 years older...you can all see where I am going with this one.
there has been enough time that the NTSB could release FDR data and a prelim cockpit voice recorder transcript.
I believe that the copilot lived to tell us what happened and that HE was the one who asked about the runway lights(no proof, just a "gut" feeling). Sadly, the response was to take off.
j