Kammekor wrote: ↑Thu Mar 16, 2023 2:21 pm

Freightdog wrote: ↑Thu Mar 16, 2023 12:23 pm

xandreu wrote: ↑Thu Mar 16, 2023 11:59 am
Pilot suicide seems the most likely explanation to me.

While a plausible possible explanation, there is very little to truly make that the most likely explanation. It’s just an explanation that gained traction from some circumstantial evidence. Pilot suicides are rare. Substantially rare enough to make them quite appealing as explanations.

I can think of three cases from the top of my head.... Egyptair, Silkair and Germanwings if I recall well. I promise I didn't use Google. I am sure there are more.

Regardless of the findings, it is still believed to be possible that the Parker-Hannifin-made PCU that controlled the aircraft's rudder could have been defective and thereby led to the crash. The cause of some previous 737 crashes, such as United Airlines Flight 585 and USAir Flight 427, had been attributed to the 737's rudder issues. Although the NTSB and PCU manufacturer Parker-Hannifin had already determined that the PCU was properly working, and thus not the cause of the crash, a private and independent investigation into the crash for a civil lawsuit tried by jury in Los Angeles County Superior Court, which was not allowed to hear or consider the NTSB's and Parker-Hannifin's conclusions, decided that the crash was caused by a defective servo valve inside the PCU based on forensic findings from an electron microscope, which determined that minute defects within the PCU had caused the rudder hard-over and a subsequent uncontrollable flight and crash.[5] The manufacturer of the aircraft's rudder controls and the families later reached an out-of-court settlement.[6]