Or [is it possible] that the crash was actually inevitable before the throttles were advanced for the last time ?
PaperTiger,
You've awakened a memory from very long ago.....
"The Pilot Who Died Before Take-off".
It's a story about a Super Sabre (F-100 ... that should date it !).
In theory, he starts his engine with enough credit on his "runway remaining" balance. In reality he's already dead.
The story then goes through everything that finally puts him into debt.... air temperature reducing thrust, higher than expected fuel weight, change of wind, etc.
The story ends with a fireball at the end of the runway.
It's likely over 40 years since I read it, and I honestly don't know if it was Ernest Gann, or an obscure article in an obscure flight safety magazine. Maybe somebody remembers the story?
I've never forgotten that one. It was the classic case of what we are now calling here "the holes in the cheese lining up".
When that happens the only sane answer is: "how do we stop it from happening again?".
Putting "blame" is singularly pointless. Maybe a human made a mistake. If so, another human will make the same mistake sooner or later, unless we do the necessary to help him/her in every way not to make that same mistaek again.
Personally, I still remember the Eastern 401 crash in the Everglades in 1972. Luckily we didn't have to wait for the final report to find out that one of the contributing factors could have been the AP alt hold being disengaged by pressure on the controls, without this being clearly indicated to the crew.
We looked, and yes, on Concorde we had the same situation. The necessary modifications weren't long in coming.
In 2000, a Concorde crashed. Everything was done to fill every single hole in the cheese that lined up that day, and she was brought back to service.
One can only hope that this time, too, everything will be done to fill every single hole in the cheese, rather than just blame X or Y. Having read this thread..... pigs will fly first......