Thinking about the somotographic illusion question posed by some posters. Lets not discount the fact that flying around in circles for hours on end, no doubt fatigued and anxious by this point is going to degrade performance significantly. Anyone who has experienced this phenomena in a high performance jet at night will understand that you must rely on your excellent instrument flying skills in order to stop yourself screwing up. I remember feeling disorientated for a number of seconds, tired and during the throes of a windshear escape manoeuvre in a 737 at night. Body telling me one thing, eyes the other, fatigue a factor, its always on the last sector and at night when these things happen. Were these guys aviating navigating and communicating? Or was this a loss of control due to the loss of situational awareness by a fatigued crew? Never mind the supposed calm manner of the pilot over the RT, that really tells us nothing. You have to question the commanders reasoning for the 2 hour hold over the field. If he was under commercial pressure do you think he would have been worried? By all accounts this chap had resigned and was leaving for Ryanair in the morning. Somehow I don't think tea and biscuits in Dubai the following day factored in his decision making somehow. Murphy was out that night, time will tell.