Re
Just thinking out loud and to ask for clarification from the experts. If the A/C thought it was flying because of a faulty WOW switch, would the TOCW still operate? If not, then the C/B issue is possibly a red herring?
It seems hard to believe however that such a simple problem could lead to such a disaster and there there is no redundancy inbuilt?
I did reply in fact
Errrr.... If the Flaps were not set for takeoff, I am afraid there it is probably SOPs / Human Factors that led to the loss of the aircraft.
Things like TOWS are backstops that ideally should work, but it is difficult to attribute the (primary) cause of the accident to the TOWS not working. IMHO. A bit like blaming a faulty airbag for a road accident fatility... it would be better to avoid the accicent in the first place.
In short,
if the takeoff was Flap/Slatless
and the TOCW was not working, the accident was not "caused by" the TOCW, IMHO. It might be a "contributory cause" but if you have to reject a takeoff because the TOCW stops you, there should be a form of inquriy into just this... because the TOCW likely saved a lot of lives, and the rest of the "system" had failed.
Admittedly not an airliner, but operating using the same laws of physics!
Not too sure about that - an airliner can get above 20,000'
NoD