Having said all this. Can anyone clear me on the ATC's role in 100 seconds of crew paralysis. Shiphol ATC having a radar and ILS should have closely monitored the 737's approach on their screens, starting at around 2500 feet.
This question keeps returning every day, and as I think recent answers leave a bit to be desired, here's my try.
First, as seen by ATC the approach (according to available data) looked perfectly acceptable for the first 85 seconds or so. Slightly hot and high initially but capturing glideslope and slowing down nicely before 500 ft, nothing extraordinary. And even in the critical last 15 seconds as the plane slowed below Vref, it was still on the glideslope until just before stall.
Second, The ATC radar rotates at some 5 sec/revolution so the tower controller had perhaps 3 or 4 echoes available during the critical last 15 seconds to notice the airspeed becoming dangerously low. Not much time.
Third, the tower controller's first job is not to fly the Turkish B737, it's to maintain separation between approaching aircraft and make sure the runway is clear for landing aircraft. So his (assuming a he) attention may actually have been focused on the reducing separation distance to the next aircraft in line and maybe considering instructing that aircraft to slow down or go around. Which actually was what happened, if I remember correctly the ATC discussions from the first days. And he had probably some additional aircraft to monitor and control at the same time.
Fourth, even if he noticed the developing situation he may have been engaged in a radio call to some of the other aircraft and decided to finish it before attending to the Turkish aircraft. The controller is not responsible for basic flying of the aircraft!
Fifth, the tower controller most probably did not get to see the 737 visually in the haze. Or if he did, only the landing light and therefore had no way of visually judging the approach. The stall happened some 1.8 NM before the threshold and the tower is near the opposite end of rwy 18R, i.e. some 3-4 NM from where it stalled.
Sixth, there is no record that the 737 at any time notified ATC of any problem (RA or other) that would have precluded a normal approach.
In summary, this was an accident where the tower controller basically had no information of the problems that led to the stall, until the very last seconds of those 100.
Corrections from pros welcome
