Can someone with some time on Westwinds so some sums for me?
Would it be safe to assume, that the aircraft had divert capability (to Noumea?) at or around TOPD, if not a bit later?
How much fuel would that involve? (I'd be guessing, a quite substantial amount, as in a couple of hours endurance?)
Would three approaches and misssed approaches burn that much fuel and his final fixed reserve? (I'd be guessing - no.)
So how much fuel would you be guessing was still in the tanks when the captain decided (that's IF he decided!!!) to put it down in the water?
Can anyone tell me what time passsed between the third missed approach and the time the aircraft alighted on the water?
If the information beginning to come to light now is accurate, (no pre-ditching briefing for the pax, life jackets not worn, no Mayday call or even a request for the boat to launch etc), I'd be guessing that we're looking at a very, VERY lucky outcome to what might have been an unmitigated disaster, and, amazing as it might seem to some, that the ditching might have been almost as much of a surprise to the pilots as it was to the passengers!!!
What did someone say earlier in the thread? Something along the lines that it's uncanny how often when the media hails a pilot as a hero immediately after the event, the final report brings out something very, very different?
For everyone's sake, I hope I'm really, really wrong in harbouring these suspicions.