[texasbluebell]

I know, that had crossed my mind too, but I read on another thread that this same passenger had made 2 phone calls to her nephew, the first during the taxiing, when she said the plane was having some sort of problem, then she called him back during take-off. So it did sound as if the plane was already in trouble during the taxiing period.

I don't have a link, and who even knows if the story has much credibility to it at this point.

[Labyrinthos]

I read the link, and my first thought is that if there was a problem during the taxi, then why leave the ground -- unless the problem was human rather than mechanical.