Phil gollin, re your post #2066, sorry to get picky or even pettifogging about this, but according to the compact OED, a theory is a supposition or a system of ideas intended to explain something, especially one based on general principles independent of the thing to be explained.
2 an idea accounting for or justifying something.
http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/theory?view=uk,
or if you prefer Chambers ED "an explanation or system of anything: an exposition of abstract principles: speculation as opposed to practice". (sorry, no linked source for this one)
Or the Merriam-Webster dictionary "6 a
: a hypothesis assumed for the sake of argument or investigation b
: an unproved assumption". This one seems particularly fitting, wouldn't you say?
theory - Definition from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
Sorry to be irritating and quote dictionary definitions, but "theory" as described above is what I meant to say, and it seems to me to be entirely appropriate at this stage of the investigation. If you or others think not, or disagree with some aspect of the AAIB's Interim Report and Safety Recommendations, I shall respect their views, but without seeing convincing arguments (or sources in the case of further 'definitions' of 'theory'), would be unlikely to agree with them. For the present, I prefer to stick with the AAIB's avenue of investigation, particularly the yet to be seen assessment of the fluid dynamics modelling, something which I alluded to much earlier, around post #500, I think.
rgds pf