But they did not impact the island. Why, because they knew something was'nt right, kept asking the question and came up with the right answer and took the right action.
Some feel they should have done better, maybe some of us are right but can any of us say we would have done better on the night.
I can't say that myself but I can say that I have learnt from the video and it has made me think of how I conduct ILS approach's. That does not mean I won't get it wrong but perhaps it will stack the odds a little more in my favour.
The video was not published so we could take pot shots at the crew, it was published so we could learn. It was published on the assumption the target audience would be humble enough to recognise that it could be them.
In the bad old days when we were quick to blame,people covered up their errors so the lessons were lost. Result, higher accident rates. Thankfully things are now more open and acident rates have fallen.
Distance versus altitude ( not height ) is not all that straightforward. How quickly can you work out a 13nm check with a runway elevation of 763ft. If your outside the DME ranges on the chart its arithmatic time. By the time you've done it your 1-2 nm further on so thats no good so you have to anticipate the check. Add in taking flap, gear, speedbrake, checks, adjusting the MCP, cabin secure calls, frequency changes, complying with ATC speed and there is a-lot potentialy going on to get in the way.
Sure we should manage the approach so we don't allow ourselves to be rushed but in this case it all happened late on at G/S intercept and no amount of planning could have prevented that. So for me its a reminder to cross check and make use of as much info as I can but if I lose a bit of SA and start to get tunnel vision and things are not adding up then its time to follow this crews example and take positive action to put the aircraft in a safe place.