p51guy, because people scream when you bank this much at 500' AGL?
What?
I've never been a passenger in a plane when the passengers screamed, no matter the angle of bank. I have heard a few grumbles on a firm landing, I have heard applause (always heard them on Alitalia flights) when the pilot makes a nice landing, and I've heard grumbling and moaning during turbulence. My wife went white knuckled on a flight from Malta to Rome back in 97 when we went through some stormy weather, back of the plane, and you could feel the tail shift and shake. Even I was a bit ruffled by that segment of the flight. It was a rough flight at both ends, but ... no screaming.
My first flight as a passenger of an airplane was at age 10 months. (Back when air travel wasn't the annoyance it is now). I've been on over 200 trips as fare paying customer.
Never heard passengers scream, and certainly not when the pilot was simply banking to turn the plane.
Does this happen often, this screaming thing?
By my reckoning the crew flew for nearly 2 minutes on an extended 45 degree leg before coming to grief, having made no left turn. (Of course, it is entirely possible that an incapacitation or a tech problem could have taken the pilots' attention away from the navigation, but as this was a visual procedure, none of these excuses warrant the subsequent event)
The core puzzle in this mishap.