Have they found the cause?
There is a email rumor circulating on the internet which seems to come from someone with inside knowledge of this accident. Anyone hear of a possible "official" report?
I have cleaned it up a bit.
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Employees of the airline were in the aircraft, but no employees from the manufacturer were on board.
All four engines were set to takeoff power in this virtually empty aircraft. The run-up protocol prohibits this.
No chocks were set. Brakes will not hold aircraft at full power.
Takeoff warning horn was sounding in the cockpit because all four engines were at full power.
The flight computer thought they were trying to takeoff but the plane had not been configured properly (flaps/slats, etc, etc).
One of the crew pulled the 'Ground Sense' circuit breaker to quiet the alarms.
The aircraft now assumes it’s in the air.
The flight computer automatically releases the brakes. This is a safety feature to prevent the brakes from operating before landing.
The throttles were not retarded by manual control until about 2 seconds before impact.
Last edited by jfill; 27th Mar 2008 at 21:08.