Thank you JBS - I will read the reports on your website when I get the chance - time is not on my side at the moment however. From a personal point of view, I do hope that the suggestions you put forward are wrong - I say that because I weekly make use of commercial air transport and as such I have to place trust in the teams of people responsible for investigating why things sometimes go wrong and ensuring that the appropriate corrective actions are put in place to prevent reoccurance. saying that, I'm a firm believer in approaching everything in life with an open mind.
Although information regarding the progress of the 611 investigation has somewhat dried up - the subsequent discussion in this thread between yourself and those experienced in the day to day operation of the 747 has been fascinating. Although the scope of the thread has become a little wider, hopefully the moderators will keep it open and let it run. There are other questions in my mind, but by reading all the relevant reports in full I dare so I'll be able to answer one or two of them myself first. But in the meantime ........... let the discussion continue ...................... it really is very, very good.
-S