Capone wrote:
Interesting.  Thanks for the information.  I think it was a CBC Fifth Estate documentary.  Given your observations, I wonder why the program put so much emphasis on pilot experience.  I'm anxious to hear, once available to the public, what transpired in those last moments.  The documentary speculated that the pilots didn't move fast enough.  Supposedly the plane had its nose dipped below 45 degree angle and the pilots were trying to get the nose up.  They think the plane didn't have enough speed, which caused it to stall.  I guess if your plane is malfunctioning during the night over the Atlantic, you're pretty much SOL - without visibility or a functioning computer.
No, you're not SOL since you don't need computers or visibility to keep an airplane in the air.  Planes without computers fly "blind" every day and there isn't a rash of computerless airplanes falling out of the clouds (or the night sky) as they do so.

The reason they may have speculated so much about the pilots is because the probable cause of almost 90% of all aviation accidents is human error.  

  

"C'mon Reg, how many times do I have to remind you? Be conservative, not retarded." - (c) Rusty Iron Ring 2011