Has anyone in all of this speculation considered the effect of the first nose gear touchdown on the crew? I would think after getting your cage rattled as hard as that, it would take several seconds to get your wits about you (assuming they were not injured).
Although I am no pilot, I am a SLF with over 1 million FF miles. I spent many hours as a passenger on MD-11's with AA, Delta, Alitalia, Air Lingus and others. It provided me with some of the smoothest flights I have ever been on, and some of the roughest landings. One flight in particular was an Air Lingus flight into JFK just 3 days after the loss of Swiss Air 111 up in Peggys Cove. (our flight was Air Lingus Flt 111. Weird ) In any case, I have never been on an aircraft where so there were so many throttle changes and pitch adjustments in the last minute of flight. Even before we landed, I commented to my co-worker that the pilot really seemed to be fighting. It was a very windy day, and it was the hardest landing I have ever experienced. We bounced hard, and the second touchdown was almost as hard as the first, with the nose coming down very hard. Overhead bins opened in a number of locations. At the time I wondered how the crew was affected by the touchdown, because it certainly rattled my teeth in the first class cabin. I had no ideas there were concerns about the MD-11 at that time, but after that flight I avoided it if I could.