Looking at the METARs above I am scratching my head, asking why the ceiling at Egelsbach could be so different from Frankfurt? They're only a few km's away from each other...
Really? Iīm based at EDFM and ETOR is just 1 nm further than EDDF is from EDFE. We sometimes are CAVOK whilst ETOR is fogged in or visa versa.
Called microclimate me thinks. The intensive traffic both air and ground around EDDF has its impact.
However, what mystifies me is the fact why anybody would even try an approach to a VFR airfield under the given conditions
Well VFR is VFR, meaning you go there and look it up. Iīve landed often in conditions that looked on paper pretty bad, but where in good in reality.(and vice versa) I remember a flight in a Cherokee from a small field to EDDS, where the first half of the runway was invisible, RVR 100m and the other half was in the open, clear sky.
I landed, perfectly safe and legal, whilst commercial airliners couldnīt (that was before the runway was moved)
Back to EDFE, I think operations there could be safer, if ATC would offer an exit strategy IF VFR is lost during the approach (sorts of a missed approach procedure) - the workload is skyhigh at that time even without having to go back to Langen and ask to pickup IFR again with all that traffic into Frankfurt around you.
IF we need to speculate, Iīd say that probably both looked outside and none on the ASI. The F90 is a nice airplane but stall recovery at low altitude isnīt on of her strong points. Due to the lack of CVR and FDR we probably will never know what really happened.