BOAC;
No, I don't have a confirmed location yet; the Airblue was straightforward as there were lots of photographs from which to work in Google Earth.
However, the location on AvHerald, (in decimal degrees) showed a location south of the mountains to the east of the airport and the article yesterday from the Curt Lewis' daily briefings of news items and articles on finding the two recorders was very clear on the description of the crash site, (quote below), so the location on the AvHerald began to make more sense than first reports of a "crash in the mountains".
"Footage on state TV showed the plane's crumpled fuselage lying in a field, torn apart in several places, under whirling snow in the darkness as rescue workers and local farmers searched for survivors in the hours after the crash."
With the wreckage "intact", (not disintegrated), most here experienced with the techniques of informed speculation may be thinking in a number of areas.... - pitch-power-speed, at and during the g/a, are obvious first things because a stall is possible given the wreckage configuration; next could be how the go-around sequence was handled, (SOPs/crew coordination) is important. Possible contributory factors, in no particular important order could be engine failure(s), GPWS/EGPWS and associated crew responses (appropriate or otherwise) need to be considered/ruled in/out, and early flap retraction below maneuvering speeds is also a possibility but that goes under examining the go-around sequence. Then the highly speculative/very improbable stuff like pitot icing, incorrect altimeter setting(s), QFE/QNH issues, mechanical failure where no one was watching the airplane, etc. Just some thoughts - it was a (relatively!) low forward speed impact but for me there is an inkling of fairly high vertical speed - just a sense.
PJ2
Last edited by PJ2; 12th January 2011 at 17:53.