Theamrad,
The brake change can't be confirmed yet.
The #1 Reversers inoped is more or less believable, but shouldn't affect the landing performance as you said... single reverser didn't cause the accident, but is a contributor to the effects of the accident thanks to reduced deceleration ability and controllability issue if one "lost the plot"...
I think you mentioned something like ‘track marks’ earlier – if I’m not misunderstanding – even with max. manual braking that, could indicate anti-skid problem – I know I don’t have enough facts and this is really reaching at this stage.
Would max man brakes with antiskid protection result in some track marks?
If your theory is correct – one pilot trying to GA and the other trying to stop, if reverse thrust had been available and selected by one – that would/should have been the end of trying for GA. I think the suggestion of confusion arising in the cockpit is pretty compelling over a GA or not decision.
As likely/unlikely as it is, I must advise caution on this one at this stage of the investigation. As you said rightly, a small mishap can lead to a disaster if one does not act/react correctly, but I'm extremely curious on what the pilots will say on what happened and their reasonings for their actions before I go anywhere near judging them.
As to improving the situation, let's just say that improvements in a lot of aspects happened between 2000 and 2004 (I'm not talking about the rate of mishaps but the general atmosphere of the industry in terms of safety mentality), but, since then, it appears to have gone downhill extremely fast for some reason.
PK-KAR