Howdy all. So much emotion in the thread and induced in me by this accident , and most especially the comments about AA965 Cali crash of 1995, a tragedy I am very familiar with.
Where to start in my first post here.
What a complete shame the waste of lives aboard the doomed flight and the sorrowful impact on the lives of those related to the crash victims, as well as colleagues of the flight crew.
Have waded thru many fatal crashes/investigations since I began flying way back in 1968 at age 15 in PA-28's to retirement just over 2 years ago from the left seat of the B777.
Having read thru the entire thread and most of the official reports, I suppose as good a place as any to start would be the last interactions with ATC the crew had. I have read some potshots taken at ATC in some of the posts and the perceived lack of cooperation of ATC with the requests by the crew in flight. No need to rehash the option the crew had of properly filing the type of flight plan they perhaps may have intended to apparently haphazardly attempt.
So I start with....
I don't recall reading any comments about the Captain's outlandish (IMO) behavior and outright disregard of the direct request/instruction/directive of ATC regarding speed assignment during their descent....
At 15 h 33 min 34, descending to FL 130, the crew contacted Perpignan
Approach. They were cleared to descend to FL 120 towards the PPG VOR. The
approach controller asked them to reduce speed to 250 kt and to plan a hold at the PPG VOR. They were number two on approach. One minute later, the crew requested radar vectoring. The approach controller asked them to turn left on heading 090 and reduce speed to 200 kt.
The controller instructs an additional reduction of 50 knots in about a minute, suggesting to meshe may be getting a little pressed somewhere for traffic separation for whatever reason.
Then about 5 minutes later....
"At around 15 h 39 min, the approach controller asked the crew to descend towards flight
level 60. The airplane was then slightly below flight level 100 and its speed was 215 kt."
So far, nearly 6 minutes to reduce speed to 215 knots?? I know, whats the rush, let that controller fly his desk and radar, us pilots, we got the responsibility and the heavy metal.....
Note that: " At 15 h 36 min 47 s, the airplane was level at FL120."
Is the A320 so slippery that even at say VNE and level at FL120 it would be a task to slow to 200kts in a little over 2 minutes?
At around 15 h 39 min, the approach controller asked the crew to descend towards flight
level 60. The airplane was then slightly below flight level 100 and its speed was 215 kt.
At around 15 h 40 min, the approach controller asked the crew to turn to the right on heading
190 and to maintain 180 kt. The Captain made a right turn. The airplane speed was 215 kt.
What I am seeing here is a pilot who just is not going to cooperate and fly ATC IFR directed speed. As in, "Don't bother me, I have more important stuff to do than help YOU (controller) with your separation duties". I seem to recall that the rules give a pilot plus or minus 10kts from assigned speed, maybe my memory is faulty.
So the intrepid pilot TRE! and crew continue...
"The aeroplane reached 5,000 ft altitude at 15 h 42. Its speed was then around 210 kt".
At 15 h 42 min 14, the approach controller asked for the aeroplane’s speed.
The Co-pilot answered initially that it was falling, then at 15 h 42 min 25 said
that it was 180 kt. The aeroplane speed was then slightly above 190 kt and the selected speed went from 180 kt to 157 kt. The approach controller asked them to maintain 180 kt and to descend to 2,000 ft.
They then did their fateful controlled deceleration to about one half of the assigned 180 knots w/o even the slightest consideration of informing the controller, after all she might have been just another "empty kitchen". I don't suggest that was the Captain's opinion of said controller. But his "who cares" attitude of slowing to requested speeds, then halving his assigned speed well outside the IAF w/o communication with ATC.... did he know that there was no IFR aircraft behind him that might be affected by his speed reduction? Any disregard for rules and common sense/courtesy beginning to be displayed here??
Won't begin to address the unbelievable flight situation he then quite voluntarily and seemingly non-chalantly dived headlong into; in an aircraft he was supposedly immenently knowledgable of and skilled in flying from A to B in all weather, day or night and surely well aware of the many dizzyingly frenetic flight law changes he was about to encounter which would snuff his and 6 other lives and affect so many more.