To those considering selecting flaps instead of gear as the possible cause for this accident, consider instead this scenario:
1. Gear raised as per normal procedures.
2. In the process of selecting flaps from 28 to 15, the control was mis-handled or defective (depending on the original design concept) and was inadvertently selected to full up.) PF would not initially note much of a problem until the LE flaps began to retract and then all h*ll would break loose.
There isn't much handle travel between flaps 15 and UP. In the dark cockpit, it would be difficult to see the the mis-selection of flaps up until it began to cause problems.
If the flap handle design was intended to prevent direct selection to up from flaps 28, then wear or failure of some part of a mechanical interlock could be considered a system problem followed by the aircrew not realizing in time what they had (inadvertently) done wrong. This is essentially what is being reported, isn't it?
This image was originally posted to this thread by Kulverstukas.
The origin of this image appears to be a Russian language blog by 'Denokan' on safety matters.
A google translate link to the blog is here:
https://translate.google.com/transla...html&sandbox=1
As an aid to interpretation read harvest=retract and chassis=landing gear
The thrust of this article is to move cockpit controls slowly and deliberately and to avoid rushing procedures.