Apart from when doing the flying display at Farnborough, I've never seen a '124 do such a tight visual circuit, they normally establish about 6 - 8 miles out and once they start descent, are committed to landing as the engines take too long to spool up (with a danger of inducing a compressor stall) for a go-around, so the crew, having got it too tight, were probably trying to get rid of excess height without gaining speed.
Last edited by chevvron; 24th Dec 2012 at 19:35.