reread your post to Dave and GA. Not pissing match just genuine concerns.
I say again - nobody is (or has been) throwing stones. Perhaps you could enlighten me if you think that is the case. You seem to have entirely missed the slur on airline pilots that I was responding to.
I don't. Hence the statement provided was my belief in his ability, as I believe was stated.
OK then WHY do you BELIEVE that? Genuine question.
The whole event was continually changing circumstances... from 7000' to 0'.
If it was clear cut we probably wouldnt be on here discussing it.
Not really. If he had elected to go into Richmond, there is little doubt that he would have made it easily, as previously suggested. It was the attempt to get to Bankstown that turned a drama into a crisis - quite possibly as a result of a further failure, and again nobody is laying blame. Something clearly went very wrong in the final stages of the flight as from what I can tell, he should have easily made it to Bankstown. Those are the changing circumstances I am referring to. Have a look at that road in Google Earth - it isn't very wide and I doubt I could manage to miss all the power poles and cables that he faced. it was clearly a last desperate attempt to get down safely.
Would it have ended the same if he circled Richmond to lose the 7000' in a controlled manner. Only for perhaps the same event to occur in which the aircraft became unable to maintain height and crashed in a street in Richmond instead of Canley Vale.
Personally, no I don't think so. It's a long runway and there is no need to stray far from it during the descent. Even a second engine failure with a failure to feather shouldn't be too much of an issue in that situation.
Perhaps i'm being naive but i don't think any of this helps until the simple parts of the equation can be put together
It helps because irrespective of what the failure might have been, it highlights the decision-making process and possibly a whole raft of cultural issues. It may possibly make some young GA pilot think to himself "right, if that ever happens to me, I'm not leaving a perfectly good runway in favour of a distant one for whatever reason - I'm getting myself and my passengers on the ground in the safest possible way" - and who knows, that might save lives. To me, that is worthwhile.