Originally Posted by
jojoxy
I don't want to suggest it hit wake turbulence, I merely stumbled over a rumor (a 757 possibly preceding the crashed plane) on this board, which became a so called fact on some news sites, and in return became a 'fact' here.
Some posters based their theory of wake turbulence on this.
I'm asking if there is any reliable source to this, as it seemed a bit like a rumor was quoted and quoted again and became a fact in the process.
Aircraft hit wake turbulence every day. They don't fall out of the sky because of it. If you are following behind, wake turbulence causes an airliner to roll to the left or right. That didn't happen here. If you cross it at angle, you get a momentary bump or jolt and continue on..... No big deal.
These are the facts as I see them:
1) Passengers reported turbulence just before landing. This suggests the aircraft experienced a stall buffet or pre-stall buffet close to the ground. This means the airspeed was too slow. We don't know why, but there are lots of reasons it could happen. Believe it or not, engine failure is not a reason to loose airspeed. It is every pilot's duty to monitor airspeed at all times, and if necessary, maintain airspeed by lowering the nose. You don't need power to maintain airspeed. Power certainly helps if you also want to maintain altitude.
2) Passengers said the aircraft suddenly dropped. Some of them then surmise that the aircraft must have run out of fuel. This is because, in their limited knowledge, nothing else could have caused the aircraft to drop. (Of course everyone, and their dog, runs with this idea, even though there were no calls to ATC regarding a fuel problem)
3) Other, more astute passengers, gave conflicting information. They say the aircraft dropped, but they also heard increased engine noises. This was probably the pilots adding power in reaction to the initial stall warnings.
4) Witnesses on the ground describe nose high attitude, followed by a dive to the ground.
5) The aircraft hit the ground tail first in a high rate of descent with low forward speed. This is obvious from the photos of the crash scene.
When the FDR and CVR information is released, I expect that it will confirm a low altitude stall, or approach to stall, with an incorrect or incomplete stall recovery.
