the female in the left seat could not hold the wings level on a sunny day, use-less
A tasteless and useless comment. She is dead, no need to throw stones at this stage.
He would have never agreed to such a maneuver .
I donīt know your friend, but from my own experience: we (humans) do sometimes things we regret afterwards. I have done stupid things, way more than Iīm happy to admit. Also in aeroplanes.
I am hoping it was a mistranslation and they meant it came from the data recorder and describing the planes attitude in its last moments.
At this stage its probably too early, but I doubt that an official statement like the one on the bfu webpage is made lightheardetly without several crosschecks. Jurisdical implications...
I am not a pilot but I know alot about the physics of aviation . I know there are many things that could have gone wrong up there that could have put the plane in a tumble of sorts . Airframe instability , Major engine problems .
Yes and no. A major engine failure would have left them with a gliding aeroplane and from 25000ish thousand feet that would mean at least 10-12 minutes (it has been a while that I flew the Bravo) with a battery that lasts more than 20 minutes with all electrical equipment switched on. I do know a guy who had a complete electrical failure and thus loss of instrumentation in a Bravo, but they would have had at least the standby horizon on standby power for 60 minutes and airspeed and altitude indications. Would be obvious on the FDR readout. (and the CVR would have stopped immediately to - if there is sound of the breaking up this theory is void...)
The Bravo is a very, very easy to fly aeroplane as most Cessnas are. My first Jet was the 551 which is the predecessor to the Bravo and I have flown all Models of the 550/551/560 family, its easy to feel good and in control of the Bravo after little experience in it. There should be something around 1500-1600 airplanes of that family out there flying every day. There not known to fall out of the sky often...
I guess I am just hoping it is mechanical and not Pilot stupidity .
Thats human and perfectly understandable.
I also notice alot of remarks here about inexperience of the pilots . I cant speak for the crew member on the flight as I do not know their identity. I dont know much about how hours are rated and what is typical for or common for private pilots to have . but i know my friend has more hours than what is listed by other members, he has been flying privately for this company for the past 4 years . and as far as the comment about only have 100 hours of jets i think that may be wrong. it may be 100 hours on this particualr jet . as I know the company aquired this jet back in december .
We all have been beginners at one stage. The JAR and now EU rules would require 1500hrs to unfreeze the ATP and command an aeroplane in the transport category such as the Bravo. What you have learned in this 1500hrs is most often not accessed. What I want to say is you can become a very competent aviator in 1500hrs or you can stay at the stage of the PPL trainee you once were. Hours donīt mean to much. I have been flying with people with 4 times as many hours as I have and they were the worst imageable pilots and Iīm constantly stunned by my current cocaptain, who has 1/4th of my hours and is sharper than me, way sharper. But then, experience pays out at the situations he never had faced before and I have.
As bad as it is, I think we just have to wait until the final accident report is out, might take a long time.