Zalt,
In response to your ?s;
i) Did the crew give you any idea of the sink rate or the altitude they stabalized at? If the FDR data has been examined as suggested I'm suprised such information is not being qouted, rather than flowery statements like 'they never stopped flying the aircraft'. The FDR, CVR, and DECUs were all reviewed regarding the aircraft's flight profile and the crew's response to the situation. The company reviewed the data and interviewed the crew and were satisfied with the crew's acitons. The data has not been shared with the rest of the company as of yet.
Now, on the "letter" people have been discussing (said flowery statements) , that letter was from the customer to their employees who we support. It was NOT an official response from Air Log, just to set the record straight. Yes, the customer was a little flowery, but hey, they're oil men, not pilots or engineers.
ii) Are your friends both flying again? Yes, both pilots started their regular hitch after the review process. They both were in surprisingly good spirts considering the ordeal and having undergone fairly heavy scrutiny. My hat is off to both of them.
iii) Did they say if the rumour that they did not have ready access to weather data at their home base true? Hmmm, I'm not sure if I heard this one. There was the whole stink about the sofas in the pilot's room being removed as a "safety issue" and "limiting access to the computers (which was absolute CRAP!). If you want to read all the BS on that mess, log on to JH.
As far as weather data, I can say this. We have a dedicated weather computer with all the high speed radar, IR, satilitte, SIGMETs, TAF, ect and supporting programs. We also have other computers that have similar access to those tools via the internet. No one wants for access to weather tools.
Now, when we talk about offshore reporting stations, that capability across the GOM for all the operators is limited. I think we are down to seven stations now due to hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustav & Ike. Any way, thats the best I can address the "weather data" rumor.
But the bottom line is that the crew managed to respond admirably to a very dire situaiton.