Cosmo,
I'm big enough to admit I haven't got a clue! Could he have landed? Dunno? But I'm interested in people's views, yours, and people who've flown similar types. And look at the responses - Wino, a twin-jet F/O thinks "no way", while Glueball, a wide-body Captain isn't so pessimistic.
But what I haven't done is make up my mind, on that or any other issue. What a pity that your selective quote left out the other part of my sentance - namely: "With the severity of the fire however, it naturally didn't look good...."
But let's not get drawn into the if he'd gone for a forced landing would it have been survivable road again. The answer has to be maybe, maybe not, and to be honest, there may be few lessons to learn here. There are other, more germane questions being asked however - or perhaps you think I've made up my mind on those too?
Should we perhaps have a separate, 'slag off' and kick the journo thread, and leave this one clear for asking and attempting to answer the outstanding questions? Alternatively, if you just want to get some bile off your chest, then drop me an E-mail and save some band-width.