10 year Aniversary of American 1420

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Airlines_Flight_1420

Most of us know about what heavy rain and pilot error can do

I'd never given thought to the fact that spoilers improve braking performance... I'd always just assumed they were used for extra drag.

Goes to show you not to rush things. Surprising that the autospoilers weren't part of their approach checklist to begin with!!

Now you're being cheeky bob/Bob... Seems to me they had no choice BUT to rush things... except, well the cause of so many crashes is that the landing COULD have been aborted.
I find the regulation for airliners to carry extra fuel in case they have to be diverted to another airport ironic. Ironic because too many airlines put too much pressure on their aviators to remain within the time schedule and thus compromise the safety of everyone on the aircraft. A typical "damned if you do - damned if you don't" dilemma for the pilots.
Greed raises its ugly head as usual - some airlines give pilots who run late because they put safety above time schedule demerit points... though of course this is never official and would probably not show up or be deliberately buried in the case of an investigation.

I haven't checked the news on the missing Air France A-330 off Brazil yet but there are rumours of a severe storm and a lighting strike... makes you wonder what weather radar is for. If those rumours are true, certainly the pilots would have known what they're flying into - but flying around it? Oh no, remember to be on time.
This is calculation on my behalf and I actually hope that it turns out I'm wrong.