Early speculation is never a good thing, not even on a rumour forum like this one!
What is sure is that the professional aviation/pilot organisations worldwide made predictions that are coming true unfortunately.
SAFETY in aviation stagnated in the last two years...
ACCIDENTS/INCIDENTS will be on a sharp rise over the coming years.
AIRLINES are failing to invest more in safety due to complacency. Current credit crisis is not helping in this aspect either.
PILOT training and the job-appeal of the professional has been deliberatly downgraded by airlines. This resulted in lower quality training and selection.
Nobody knows what caused this accident so far, and it might be due to the weather or a malfunction, but I just feel we had too many crashed the last two months!
Turkish Airlines is the fastest growing airline in Europe, sponsored by the Turkish governement to increase the country's public profile. It is a known fact that the pressure this brings with it has made Turkish Airlines one of the toughest companies to work for as a pilot. Pilot standards always have been average and their FT/DT limitations (rules under which they roster crew and plan the flights) are awfully tiring and demanding! Arriving in EHAM at 9h30 (I think was ETA) means they left IST at 4h30 (2h30 local time). If we could only see what the pilots where doing before this flight, I am pretty certain they only had minimum rest before this flight!
Once more, I am not saying this is what caused this unfortunate accident, but it might be a contributing factor!
Flight Intl together with several organisations are setting up a worldwide campain to improve aviation safety, upgrade the respect toward pilots and flightcrew. FT/DT regulations are slowly being changed by the governing organisations ( JAA Subpart Q) but this is facing heavy oposition from the airlines!
I think, and so is Flight Intl, that it is time the general public becomes aware of whatis going on in AVIATION.
I am always wondering how many people would actually get on board of their airplane as a passenger if they should know how tired and fatigued the crew is (cabin and flightdeck), how hard these airplanes are being pushed (maintenance etc)...
