Quote:
Originally Posted by TheDA
Yeah that last quote was basically what the NTSB said this morning on the radio.
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What they have so far is this:
They didn't find any proof of severe icing, de-icing was enabled almost during the whole flight, the aircraft started to pitch and roll when they applied a FLAP setting, the pilots went for full throttle moments before it crashed.
Sounds like (but offcourse could be something else):
A - Windshear: a difference in direction and speed of the wind over a short time, very dangerous when flying at low altitude, it caused crashes before.
B - Split flap: Flaps don't work fully on both wings, you have one wing dragging more than the other, very dangerous situation, again, certainly at low altitude.
C - Pilots applied to low airspeed: The aircraft was flying at very low airspeed and when they applied flaps the aircraft further slows because of the drag and stalls, this would mean that autothrottle wasn't enabled.
D - Engine failure: One engine was feathering, very dangerous when at low speed and low altitude, also it needs to be trimmed instantly or the wing with the failing engine could drop.
I think the main thing here is altitude.... they did apply full throttle to save the aircraft so if they had this happen at higher altitude they might have been able to save the aircraft and passengers.