So, putting all facts together, this tragicall accident could have been avoited if just one smart brain would have asked why the RAT probe-heating was working on ground.
Well ..., in these THEORETICAL scenarios we are working with, it COULD've been avoided in many different ways.
1) -If the crew would've made very sure the flaps/slats were down.
2) -If the crew would've tested the TOWS system prior to take off.
3) -If the TOWS system wouldn't have failed.
4) -If the crew or the engineers would've figured out that a seemingly unrelated issue with the probe's heater potentially also made TOWS inop.
5) -If the weight/air/wind conditions would've been different.
6) -If a more skillfull handling of the situation on the air would've ocurred.
Etc, etc.
All those, of course, are very big "ifs" and none of them actually "guarantees" that the accident could've been avoided. Except, perhaps, number 1.
After all, the LAPA flight took off clean and the TOWS did sound ...
And a couple of flights took off clean, w/o TOWS, and they still made it alive ...
So there is no single unavoidable cause for the accident. Just a main and very important factor: the flaps/slats weren't out. This big problem means that everything else has to play in your favor if the accident is to be avoided. And that day, the stars weren't aligned, I'm afraid.
