Ladies & Gentlemen,
Having returned to this forum today after a break of approximately 7 years I have read through the posts with interest. I have lost 7 acquaintances/friends, who died in aircraft they were flying, and have twice been closely involved with the AAIB in investigations.
Much of the thread has been devoted to the minutiae of minima, but he stark reality exists that those in the terminal heard the crash and had no visual awareness of the cause.
The (all to short) flying career of the F/O is sadly reminiscent of one of the investigations I was involved with.
I have had the fortune, good or bad, to have had direct experience with small regional operators worldwide and have, 40 years since the start of my aviation career, come to the conclusion that as the size of operator diminishes, the commercial pressure on the crews often increases.
As I put it earlier, conjecture at this stage is certainly unwise, but a number of factors seem to indicate that the accident may have been avoidable.