This thread is an amazing example of fault tree analysis from aviation professionals and non-professionals alike (Justme69!), and should be retained in the annals of the PPRUNE archive for posterity . How very perceptive it was of the individual (#318) who identified from the first images from the crash scene that the flaps were in a retracted position. Lessons learned here have clearly come with a high human cost and it is for the industry to recognise that highly coupled events do not become safer by increasing complexity. Chief amongst this review should be the manner in which the FMS acknowledges inputs made to the critical control checklist items, in relation to a configuration calculated for take-off. The lack-of redundancy for supporting subsystems is also an issue here, notwithstanding the ultimate responsibility for ensuring that the basic safety principles are adhered to, which sadly fall on the human element in this tragic instance.