Originally Posted by
pigboat
There's a bunch of lessens to be learned from that AF accident, not the least of which is the example of the KLM crew flying the 747 on the approach preceding the AF flight. They took a look at the radar return, said screw this for a game of darts and went to Buffalo.
I was on the approach path about 3/4 mile final during the rainstorm that involved that AF aircraft(in a car headed to Aviation World). The reason KLM went around was because they were following the AF aircraft. The aircraft preceding the AF were two RJ's(one was Jazz).
By the way, the storm had strong crosswinds as AF passed overhead. I said out loud...."what an idiot". It appeared to me that he was going around as I saw him appear to climb but he disappeared from view behind a hotel. Saw the smoke a little while later.
When I read the report, I discovered that what made me think he was going around was a sort of levelling off due the effects of the storm. Apparently he pressed on.
Talking to someone in the know(that used to keep me informed of such things) about what was said in the cockpit, a crewmember compared it to Niagara Falls.