Posted for Kevin Kossi <kevin@airforcemechanical.com>:

Jeff,

Looking back, I see you had some very insightful comments on the guy who
flew into the Lake! (Before the Official Report was out)

You might think about pursuing a career in comedy.

You and I both know, the bottom line her is safety. Everyone learns from
accidents in different ways. From the moment an accident happens, we start to
wonder what happened, and start to form an opinion based on the available
information. Sure it would be nice to have a final report at hand when you
start to formulate that opinion, but unfortunately it takes sometimes years
before that happens. And in certain cases even when the final report is
published, there is doubt about its conclusions.
Look at the TWA flight 800 accident in 1996 with many witnesses including
Radar seeing a missile intercept, and the final report attributing the crash
to a faulty fuel sensor that ignited the fuel tank.

No hard feelings.

Regards,
Kevin

[C'mon, guys, let's not start another pissing contest here.  It's human nature to attempt to fill in the blanks when initial and sketchy reports suggest many possible conclusions, and, like it or not, we all partake of the activity to one extent or another.  I guess the question is whether or not we can actually benefit from uninformed speculation, and I further guess that the answer is that it depends on what we each do with it.  Anything that raises our level of consciousness and/or motivates us to pay closer attention to our equipment or flying habits and attitudes is most likely a good thing... and learning something from others' mistakes definitely qualifies, even if we don't know exactly what those mistakes, if any, actually may have been.  Food for thought is always a good thing, and that's really what we're dealing with here.  <marv, off soapbox>         ]