Re: The video.
No problem with it. As a 737 technician, and having an interest in safety, I see a great deal of value in being able to examine the aircraft interior and seeing first hand how it held up to the impact. It seems to have perfomed well beyond it's design strength.
As to speculation. However morbid.
It would seem to me that a forum that uses the word "RUMOR" in the title, is designed for speculation, and is supposed to encourage it. Especially among active and former aircrew.
Again, I see nothing wrong going on.
Yes, people were injured, and some lost thier lives. We know this. But this is essentially a technical issue, that potentially reaches from the day the first part of the aircraft was cut, to the day a determinaton of cause is made. The human factor is very much in play, from engineering, to the actions of the crew, to the emergency response post impact.
It's human nature to speculate, discuss, argue. I think that's what this forum is all about. I don't mean to sound callous, but the victims are a side issue. If the victims or their families are an issue for you, that's ok, but it's a distraction from the facts of the matter.
Analysis and speculation are not disrespectful. Photographs or video presented for armchar forensic analysis are not disrespectful. The examination is of the aircraft, the aircrew, and the environment at the time. That is the focus. If one cannot get past the casualties, there is nothing to be done.
The is a long standing saying in legal doctrine that you cannot slander the dead. And at any rate the truth will out very likely, very soon.
Based on everything I have seen and read so far, I have no problem speculating, and further will have no guilt if proven wrong:
That for whatever reason, the crew failed to monitor airspeed on short final. The aircraft stalled or was nearly so.
The aircraft pitched up and stalled fully. It pitched up because that was the control input. Whether that control input was simply an error, or a heroic attempt to arrest speed before impact (also an error in my view) the result is the same. And I wonder if the outcome might have been better had the aircraft been allowed to touch down sooner, in a better attitude albeit higher speed. All escaped the DEN accident, even with the fire and a significant fuel load.
Last edited by onemancrew; 1st Mar 2009 at 00:37.