Originally Posted by
Hot Rod Wannabe
Think about the A/C as well. The profile was being followed, but loss of sit awarness was key. Everyone is going to slam the pilots, and some blame is deserved. But don't forget the environment as well. Severe Icing forecast and SLD was present. The co-pilot was jabbering like a monkey about the ice build up. If the had all ice protection on and they were still picking up ice, then it was SLD period. In any event it should have been, "get the heck" out of there. The captian didn't notice that the A/C slowed because the auto pilot had trimmed the airplane tail to a maximum nose up position and when the pilots received the shaker the capt slammed the throttles forward producing a 20 degree nose up... remember the auto pilot trimmed max nose up based on power settings. Then the airplaned stalled probably tucked a wing due to ice again and well the rest we know. It is easy to second guess but situationally the crew was way behind and it bit them. I'm sure the new legislation will all make us safer in the end. I'm sure 1500 hours will make all pilots bullet proof and able to save all passengers from terrible accidents from ever happening. I wonder why ALPA signed off on the new HR 3371 so fast?
Have you read something different from the NTSB than I have? You're trying to blame the aircraft? 100% of the blame goes on the pilots and when the NTSB comes out with their final report, I'm sure you'll see the same. Two other aircraft went through that area and showed no signs of severe icing. Adding power in a high wing turboprop aircraft does not cause the nose to pitch up. Rather it pitches down due to the centerline of thrust being above the aircraft CG. Plus, the Captain never did add full power. I remember from the video that the power got to around 80-90%. The airplane DIDN'T stall due to ice... it stalled because of a loss of airspeed and improper stall recovery techniques. These improper techniques include, pulling back on the yoke, not adding full power, retracting the flaps, not maintaining coordinated fllight, and disregarding/overriding the stall protection system. These were all basic flying 101 pre-private pilot issues.
Not to mention, they were also distracted with non-essential communication between each other all the way from their departure airport on a pretty short flight. Reference the CVR... the Captain didn't even adjust his seat for the approach until he was on a last vector for the ILS. They were still chatting in bad weather at night on an ILS 2 minutes before the crash!
Loss of situational awareness due to the aircraft? Do you have time in an RJ or Q400? All the information you need for situational awareness is right in front of you on one screen! You don't even have to guess where you'll get stick shaker because the low speed cue shows up right on your speed tape. They didn't even fully stall the aircraft until they were around 100 KIAS and the F.O. had retracted the flaps!
This crash had NOTHING to do with the aircraft. If you think it did, then you are really living in denial... sorry.