Here’s the video of the horrific SSJ crash. It’s disappointing that this has become a discussion about cabin baggage with few asking how the jet got to this sorry position in the first place. The accident started long before touchdown: So here goes... https://twitter.com/AviationSafety/status/1250452204705677316

1. The interim report is here in English. It’s very good, factual, comprehensive and totally shocking. Some of the language is a bit stilted but it’s easy to work out the technicalities if you know a little about fly-by-wire airliners https://www.aviation-accidents.net/report-download.php?id=678

2. The aircraft departed without faults, in daylight, into reasonably good weather apart from some cumuliform cloud. Despite having a functioning weather radar and noticing the potential lightning-bearing cloud, the aircraft continued on the departure track and was struck

3. This caused some faults with the aircraft which included a brief loss of comms and the flight control system changed to ‘DIRECT’. Reading the report, this seems very similar to A320 Direct Law. It removes most of the automation. Flying is much like a basic aircraft

4. An almost immediate return to the departure airport was requested with a degree of haste. On one hand this gave the sense of an emergency, on the other aspects were downplayed by the flight crew

5. It’s important to recognise that although the aircraft was in a reduced state, it was flyable and the crew would have demonstrated their competence in this mode during training. In the rush to get back on the ground no briefing was made and the approach checklist was missed

6. The approach was flown below the glide slope and continually out of trim. Despite this lack of approach stabilisation the approach was continued even when a predictive Windshear alert was issued by the aircraft. Both of these factors required the crew to stop the approach

7. Throughout the approach the flying pilot made large control inputs which indicates either low competence or task saturation. Either way, the approach was very poorly flown resulting in a hard touchdown at high speed and a bounce

8. The bounced landing recovery wasn’t flown, instead a large forward control input drove the aircraft into the ground nosewheel first at 5g. This was enough to cause damage to the gear and massively exceeded the aircraft design requirements.

9. Another similarly hard touchdown followed driving gear parts through the wing and breaching the fuel tanks. Fire broke out during the crash sequence meaning that the aircraft had been on fire for a good 20 seconds before stopping

10. This fire was huge and already inside the cabin. The evacuation appears prompt, fire and rescue arrival looks to be quick. It is frankly amazing that anyone escaped given the ferocity of the fire and severity of the cabin break up in the accident sequence.

11. This was an accident caused by (IMHO) poor preparation, poor coordination between crew members and poor decision making in the face of an approach that had gone bad long before touchdown. There was no rush to be on the ground.

12. Sure, hand baggage is a question that has dated back 40 years. Social media seems to have drawn it into focus recently. But if you look at the sobering survivor seat map it’s probable that those who lived from the rear left their seats whilst the aircraft was still moving.

13. Reports from the time suggest exactly this; folk fleeing from the heat and flames. This is terrifying. So it is important when addressing this accident to understanding how to avoid placing an aircraft in this catastrophic situation in the future

14. Some key questions: does the operator understand and deploy effective briefing techniques? Is there a widespread issue with handling in DIRECT mode? Decision making effectiveness and culture is also in question

15. It’s important to understand that another crew might have performed similarly or perhaps totally differently - the business of airline flying has as its essence preparedness for rare events and working through the issues methodically to reach a safe outcome with minimal risk

16. This event turned a drama into a complete tragedy. Plenty of pundits have suggested that hand baggage played a part in the outcome. This isn’t borne out by the available facts but more importantly draws focus away from the high value lessons that can be learned elsewhere.