Out of Steam?
Ladies, Gentlemen, Naval Officers, Chaps, Guys, Galls and Mates,
Contributions to this Thread for the past two-three days have been thinning out... look at the average TBP (time between posting), although there have been some admirable efforts to keep the discussion going (see for example Takata on 735 or Ret'dF4 on 772) the discussion has been fading away.
So, let's try to get the ball rolling again.
In my view there are two areas where there is still a lot of room for debate.
Crash Site
With the latest pictures from our Man in Havana (post: 721/722) and the Takata's video clip analysis (post 735) we (collective "we" referring to the panel of experts, not the Royal We) still have to reach consensus on how this thing ended on the ground.
My personal observations from all the sources available so far are that the site in nearly one Km long and it is straight like an arrow; that at the beginning from impact point to the perpendicular road there are few pieces of debris; that the parallel mark from the impact point onwards could be the fuselage scraping the terrain; that the tail could have shredded when the aircraft hit the perpendicular road, launching the aircraft in the air minus tail and starting the destruction sequence.
This is the first area of further debate. Those interested in this area, remove the thump from its resting place and put your brains in action.
Pre-crash Events
So far we have heard many highly professional accounts of what an A330 is capable of doing. We all agree that an adequate crew, with adequate experience and training, like the one most probably was at the controls (because until disproved this is the assumption we must work with) when getting to MDA and not being visual will go around and start again. We have heard how difficult it is to force an A330 to do something "wrong", we know how many audios, alarms, etc. are there to stop us from messing up our NPA, so the question for those experts who want to contribute to this area is:
What can make an adequate crew crash 1.5 Km short and 150 mt wide?
100% has already done some good calculations and made some comments on the altimeter setting. But what happens with the RadAlt?
(This is for you experts of A330) how will the EGPWS and the RadAlt and all the gizmo you have help you to determine an incorrect altimeter setting? Was it fatigue?
Was it a technical failure of the equipment?
Or was it that the flying pilot was not used (in the sense of practiced, trained) enough on this procedure? [This is an easy one becuase the CVR will tell us who was seated where... and you understand what I mean]
So, all the good minds, back to work!! Keep the steam coming!!
We owe it to the crew and the passengers that sadly are not with us anymore, but owe it also to all those thousands of silent readers that revert to this site looking for the opinion of the Professional Pilots.
One last request to another group present in this Thread: The Trolls...
Yes I know, we do not want them, etc.
I respectfully disagree.
We need them, because, when thinking hard to solve problems, sometimes a good laugh is always welcome!!!
So for the trolls, here is an assignment for you too:
Yesteday one reputable news site, referring to the Polish President crash, mentioned that The aircraft was flying 15 meters below the tarmac
Trolls: Go Figure It!!
C-SAR