G0ULI, you're correct that my fault-finding has nothing to do with the cause of the crash. Megan had made the same point earlier. But my whole subject is the impact sequence, and I explicitly say that I don't question the cause of the crash. With regard to that part of the investigation I have nothing to criticize.
My subject is the impact sequence and plane attitude, which was investigated so badly as to qualify for my term "slapdash". If I seem harsh, it's because I lived through that and watched others live through it as information trickled in. There were many people who cared very much what happened. After over 50 years we can see that the news we waited for was misreported badly. It makes me indignant, I confess.
I've adjusted my phrasing and my understanding, based on quite a few conversations with pilots. In the document I now characterize it as not so much an attempt to make a belly landing as an attempt to manage a descent. With more altitude they might have had much better results. They were headed for the ground and were hoping not to hit too hard, rather than having the goal of putting it on the ground.
I'd be delighted if someone had the computational tools to re-enact the possibilities and see how it plays out. I don't have the equipment for it. As I say in the document, I can show that the CAB/ALPA reports are wrong, but I can't prove that I'm right. I'm confident of being pretty close, but that's about it.
A couple pilots have discussed the flight with me. They agree that this maneuver would never be tried at all (at a safer height) and there will be no data on it or first person reports. They suggest I try a flight simulator and see what results I get, and I've started on that project.
I presented the Argentine crash not because it was like the Chicago crash, but because it's like the CAB said the Chicago impact started but the Argentine crash played out differently from the first impact. No two crashes are going to be alike, but finding this one gives us the chance to draw a couple lessons from it.
I agree that the crew did all they could, and we knew that since '61. I get a lot of drive-by psychoanalysis out of this. People think I'm trying to salvage reputations that don't need salvaging, or trying to deal with trauma that I was over at least 30 years ago.
Being the best-informed person on the planet on this particular crash is setting a fairly low bar, considering that everyone who studied it in person is probably dead. I'd rather be known for my book The Passionate Ape.
