Gentlemen,
I think we are in truth agreeing about most things here, and to be clear, I am not trying to exculpate the pilot or anyone else, just trying to string together, if only in my own mind, a coherent and credible sequence of events.
My current hypothesis goes along the following lines;
He sets the throttle levers for the start of the "bent loop", and accelerates towards the first gate, anticipating achieving the target entry speed as he has before.
He misses it, interestingly by roughly the same % margin as missed his target rotation speed on takeoff....
He begins the climbing phase of the "loop", and either a) he selects a materially REDUCED level of thrust or b) there is an uncommanded reduction of thrust.
He doesnt "feel" the reduced thrust, and arrives at the apex of the loop.
Glances at altimeter, and with pointer covering the numbers, reads it as 3700 rather than 2700.
Feels aircraft close to stall, but believes himself to have sufficient height to complete the manoeuvre, and applies power to address airspeed.
The rest, sadly, we know for sure.
I am not suggesting that this doesnt amount to pilot error, but at least to me, if the reduction in thrust was uncommanded , it all seems more understandable, if no less tragic.
The alternative would seem to require that we accept that the power was intentionally reduced during the climb.
Last edited by falcon900; 14th Mar 2017 at 15:14.
Reason: typo