We all respect and care for the victims. I don't really appreciate suggestions that, out of respect for the victims, all we should all do is NOTHING AT ALL until some "experts" tells us "officially" what THEY think happened and then take it as the absolute truth. Whatever they feel we don't need to know, they can then just not share with the world and keep it secret.
If myself or my daughter would've been in that airplane (and she actually had just flown round trip on Spanair from the Canary Islands to Madrid on an MD-82 the week before the accident), I would not want to have "no news whatsoever until a final investigation concludes, possibly years from the accident".
Actually, I would be doing exactly what I'm doing. Trying to spread as much information as possible so that people I trust know better than me could help me understand what happened, tell me who (if anybody) is at fault, and what is gonna be done so that it doesn't happen to others.
I even think that, if I found a thread like this, I would be most grateful to all, experts and "inmature afficionados", for each sharing their views, experiences and speculations. I rather visit this forum than hit "refresh" on CIAIAC's website only to find that, as it happened in Lanzarote's case, after 15 months all you can read is:
05-06-2007. OE-LMM. McDonnell-Douglas MD83. Aeropuerto de Lanzarote (Las Palmas) - CIAIAC - Ministerio de Fomento
A single paragraph that, basically, says nothing at all on why or how 150 people had their lives hanging from a string that day. That's the "offical investigation" (so far) in a case where they had an intact plane, the crew was alive and a company investigation that concluded the likely cause 10 months ago.
Because the Madrid accident actually had a large number of victims and initiated a judiciary investigation, the CIAIAC is going to take it a bit more seriously and the burocrats that run it (some of them not very bright, by the way, it's my personal opinion) are going to meet tomorrow to vote on the agreement of the current preliminary report to be then published. They were required by international safety organizations and their own regulations to have done that two weeks ago. The report, in its current state, although still missing some important information, at least is brave enough to point out the causes of the accident and appropiate action.
Even worse is the pitiful show put on by the press, where they've run headlines such as: "Turbulences caused the accident", "An engine fire caused the accident", "A wing malfunction caused the accident", "A wrong repair by a technician caused the accident", "Spanair's procedures didn't follow Boeing recommendations and caused the accident", "The airplane reverser was broken and could've caused the accident", "The plane had a miriad of malfunctions and still tried to fly", "The RAT probe heater was broken ... and it's needed to make sure the engines don't freeze on the air", "The airplane's flaps had failed a few days before ... and maintenance did 'nothing'", "The probe repair deactivated vital systems for the take off", "The airplane crashed because it thought it was in air mode on the ground", "The flight was overweight", "Spanair didn't check take off devices", ...
Truly sad.
If I was family of the victims, I would be angry at the press for such careless "wide" speculations that large population take as "truth". On the other side, a "small", private forum of professional pilots, under the "Rumours and News" chat room, I don't see why they couldn't make speculations probably 10 times better informed than some newspaper reporter decides to print.
I understand some people feeling offended by comments on this thread. That is fine. All they have to do is not read/participate in it. They can also express their view that they are feeling offended by it. Fine. But we already know that some people feel this way. We don't need to be reminded over and over. We understand, politely disagree, and each is free to stop reading it or continue posting on it under their own moral standards.
Only 7 survivors remain hospitalized in Madrid. The state of 2 of them is not made public by desire of their families. Out of the other five, they are all evolving favourably, with two remaining in serious condition, one of which is still in intensive care and assisted respiration. I wish for their prompt and complete recovery.
To the families of all those that perished in this tragic accident, my deepest condolences.