As a ex Q400 driver I never experienced problems with the de icing system. Even in moderate to severe icing with prop vibrations and heavy icing on the windscreen the de icing system works fine. I am sure the system worked fine.
One of you guys asked if it is possible to see the wing at night from the cockpit; Yes you can see the prop and everything further down the wing. There is also a light that shines on the de ice boot.
I think the following happened;
Crew was tired. It was the last leg of a long day. Flying in the dark and in the clouds ( with must have caused turbulence ) made them even more tired.
While being cleared for approach they levelled of at 2300'. The captain who was PF forgot to add some power to keep the speed. The plane decelerated to 134 IAS. He gave some power.
Flaps 10 were set and gear was selected down. This causes an increase of drag. The aircraft further decelarated and caused the AP to pitch up to maintain 2300' Then the stickshaker went off that disconnected the AP automatically.
Captain noticed the low speed and that ref speed incr was selected on. Due to the high pitch aircraft was unstable in pitch. Captain was shocked and gave full power and while doing this he agressively pulled the yoke. ( like he was performing a go around ).
Aircraft pitched up to 31 degrees. Aircraft stickpusher started to push. Captain pulled against the stickpusher. Aircraft stalled and went 45 degrees down with 46 degrees left bank. Because of the low airspeed no effective controls over elevator . Captain tried to recover by rolling the aircraft to the right and crashed.
Last edited by Beafis; 17th Feb 2009 at 23:53.