General comment and not addressing a specific event -


The NTSB is not immune to public, political, or media pressure or influence.
That's not saying the they can be flipped like a coin but they are human and subject to outside pressure or influence.

Mozambique authorities are starting to sound a lot like the Egyptians unfortunately. Grasping at straws to try and steer away from the facts :sad: The captain did do an emergency descent, probably as per the books, but it's still obvious about his intent. As for the door access, yes the cockpit can be accessed from outside, however it can still be inhibited from the inside. It is was sad day for airmen across the world when that report came out, but we still have to deal with the facts and work on preventing it from happening again, rather than covering it up.

As far as I know there is no official preliminary report on the crash published yet. The Namibian CAA is responsible for doing the investigation and publishing a report.

The Mozambique CAA did a press release on December 21. They did a couple of statements. One of them is that the captain had a clear intention to do the things he did (decend, keep the speed below max). The Mozambique CAA did not state 'the captain had a clear intention to crash the plane' nor they stated it was suicide.

The press reported about 'intention to crash the plane'

Nobody at this stage knows why the captain did the rapid decend.

All the airports and airstrips west and east of the crash site, like Bagani Airport, seem to be at elevations of around 3300 feet and since it´s flat savanna land, the crash site most likely as well. Which, speculatively speaking, would make selecting an altitude of 2700 roughly 600 feet below ground level. Speculation, of course.

I would dispute the assertion in the report quoted by GobonoStick BERNAMA - Preliminary Report On Crash Of Mozambique Airlines Plane Criticised that, 'Apparently the co-pilot had gone to the bathroom: but standard procedure, in airlines across the globe, is that, when this happens, the chief steward is called into the cockpit. Gomes believed this norm is widely violated.' I have worked for 5 airlines and never once have I heard of a standard procedure that if the co-pilot is in the bathroom that a cabin crew member has to be in the cockpit. Even if it were so, I would be struggling to think what good he would be in trying to sort out an emergency descent. The two questions that remain unanswered are why the emergency descent was initiated in the first place and, secondly, what were the Captain's personal circumstances outside the airline. We await with interest.

avherald.com owner and editor Simon Hradecky reports today

What is the maximum number of days after a crash in which a preliminary report should be made available by the aviation authority responsible for the investigation into the cause?

I believe it is 30 days. However no publication yet from the Namibian CAA / Ministry of Transport and Works.

I received the preliminary accident report on the crash from the Namibia Ministery of Transport and Works. The report is dated December 18.

The information told in the press conference by the Mozambique CAA at December 20 was taken from this preliminary report.

The report contains just 2 A4's with the first page data like registration, departure and destination airport.

The conclusion:
"All action observed from the recorders requires knowledge of the aircraft's automatic flight systems as the entire descent was performed with the autopilot engaged. This displays a clear intent. The reason for all these actions in unknown and the investigation is still ongoing"


That is it.

I had been waiting to see if the report would state categorically "who" was in the cockpit at the time.

The preliminary report states:

"the flight data and cockit voice recorders revealed the following"

Then 7 facts are listed. Number 2 says:

"minutes before the crash the F/O (first officer) left the cockpit for the lavatory and only the captain remained in the flight Deck. "

All the points in the report are shown at avherald.com
Crash: LAM E190 over Botswana/Namibia on Nov 29th 2013, captain intentionally crashed aircraft

Thanks

I missed the significance of the word "only"

The preliminary report by the Namibian Ministery of Transport and Works is available now online as PDF

Nothing here we did not know yet.

http://209.88.21.36/opencms/export/s...PDF_file_2.pdf

No release of a detailled report on the cause of this crash! Or did I miss something?

I have recently been in contact with the person involved in the Angola investigation into the crash. I was told "The report will be finalized soon". So in a few weeks we will know what exactly happened that day.

ASN News » Namibian report says LAM Mozambique Airlines ERJ-190 crash was pilot suicide

Namibian investigators concluded that the November 2013 accident of a LAM Mozambique Airlines ERJ-190 was caused by intentional actions by the captain.

The report states: “The inputs to the auto flight systems by the person believed to be the captain, who remained alone on the flight deck when the person believed to be the co-pilot requested to go to the lavatory, caused the aircraft to deviate from cruise flight to a sustained controlled decent and subsequent collision with the terrain.”

There's a link to a local version of the interim report:
http://asndata.aviation-safety.net/r..._(INTERIM).pdf

But I can't find the final report referred to in the ASN article.

Final Report link
 

asndata.aviation-safety.net/reports/2013/20131129-0_E190_C9-EMC.pdf

Great, thank you!