Shedding some light on post by Dream Land
was reading the newspaper reports which quoted the captain about the heavy rain, there was also a comment about poor runway lighting which is not uncommon in places like this.
So, from what I read so far:
Possible contaminated runway, hydroplaning?
Runway not too long.
Poor vis due to rain showers.
Not so good field lighting.
Full aircraft with extra fuel for the tankering.
And how much rest did the crew have that day?
This is rough conditions to me.
I flew for CAL all last winter on the 800.
Contaminated runway hydroplaning? Possible, but not that likely,the runway is almost brand new, virtually no rubber in the touchdown zone, in excellent condition and it sheds water beautifully because it is crowned and grooved. I landed in possibly one of the worst rainshowers in my career on that runway, at night, same flight number even...most likely at the same weight as this AC and had excellent braking.
Runway not too long-7400 ft...read first paragraph and go to the B737-800 braking charts and see where you sit..shouldn't have been a problem
Poor visibility-rainshowers, the approach they were on is an RNAV/VNAV 06 that puts you where you need to be, when you need to be there if flown properly...things don't always go as planned as we all know
Not so good field lighting-It's a black hole approach over the jungle, RNAV/VNAV puts you right in the slot and there was a functioning..(when I was there)..VASIS system that was the correct eye to wheel height for the 800.
Full aircraft with tankered fuel-It's a 50 min flight..with tankered fuel for the return, alt, everything in, we only had about 8000kgs, max, on that flight
How much crew rest- Anybodies guess but that flight was a continuous duty overnight and it was the only flight they would have done that day unless something very unusual happened
These would not be considered rough conditions by myself or any of the crews flying down there then, or now. I don't pretend to know what happened, I've tried to get more information but haven't come up with much.
My two cents