Originally Posted by Chris Scott
takata,
If they had maintained cruise altitude during that 4 -5 minute series of failures, and then had a simultaneous double-engine (and therefore double-generator) failure, they could indeed have glided for about 12 -15 minutes. Seems a bit odd that they should end up ditching without pre-warning cabin crew and passengers, and find themselves within about 15nm of where they were when their problems began.
Not 15 nm: maybe less than 5 nm from LKP.
a) How long did they maintain cruise altitude?
It is still unknow without the recorders. It seems that they may have lost a lot of altitude at the end of the sequence (02.14) when the pressurization valve opened. An emergency descent up to 8,000 ft/mn is plausible or it may be due to a previous
but recovered upset.
b) a gently stalled aircraft from cruise level would take about 10-15 minutes to reach sea level, not 5 minutes, and it would certainly cover a fair distance from LKP if not circling around.
c) At impact time, this aircraft seems to be in controled fligth attitude... if powered. This may be due to a failed attempt to relight its engines without having enough altitude in order to come out of the dive to build up speed: a CFIT at the dive bottom rather than an upset from cruise lasting up to this point.
d) an attempt to ditch seems very unlikely.