Originally Posted by
singleacting
I might be wrong here, but listening to the transcript, was there confusion between QFE and QNH? ( 998 & 988 )
Yes there could well be. Initial descent clearance given was to 600 meters QFE height. Crew were not sure and requested confirmation. Their call sign 981, QNH 998 and QFE 988 all potential sources for confusion.
It would seem they had set QNH for the approach.
However I do not believe it would be altimetry errors that would be a major contributory factor. The all important factor is the sudden and catastrophic pitch down. More likely cause for such uncontrollable sudden pitch change is stab trim . If the stab runaway all the way to nose down, pull back on the control column will cause the stab chord line to increase and increase acceleration towards the ground.
My question therefore is what may have initiated stab change.