I know nothing of all this, but it seems to be like trying to investigate aircraft accident where the black boxes have not been found or decoded. Unless and until they can get info on the aircraft’s airspeed, etc. it’s mostly speculation, some of it by those who know what they’re talking about and pretty accurate, but most of it just wild guessing. As with any complicated event there are lots and lots of things going on, some of which are OK but others which are quite distressing. Figuring out which is which takes a while, especially when the pilot is not available to help understand what happened and what was done in response.
And, like most disasters it will probably come down to a few very basic mistakes that were made, each of which compounded another error.
From what we’ve heard so far it really looks like the people doing the work cut corners and took chances. Just like pilots of crashed airplanes are determined to have done. And, just like with air disasters, it’s going to take a long time to work through all the information available and get the facts from those involved.
Unlike with aircraft accidents, there’s not a broad database of facts and figures on similar events to turn to for clues.
For pre-blowout, all the data is available. The drilling rig was equipped with equipment that transmitted ALL data to Houston, in real time, as the instrumentation received it. Most rigs don't have that capability, but this one did. No "black boxes" needed. The gov't already has the data by now. Don't know if it has been published on the Web yet.