[safisoft]

This is nonsense. Not only is it NOT wrong for a crew to take an aircraft to its PUBLISHED max altitude, it is a good thing if the light load permitted. Most pilots of commercial jets have been at the PUBLISHED max altitude for their aircraft, so wanting to do that was not wrong for this crew - if in fact 41,000 was the max published altitude.

The question is not whether they should have been at the PUBLISHED max altitude, but whether FL410 was in fact the published max altitude. This article does not answer that question, and blaming the pilots without that information is pure silliness.

If FL410 is the max published altitude for the Canadair, then the fault is not the pilots' for going there.

[Cvengr]

AGL or ASL?

Ooooops!

[Pukin Dog]

Hey bud, if the engines took them up there, but failed to bring them back, it is the pilots who are at fault. Jet aircraft are not toys to play around with. Unless your jet comes equipped with ejection seats, you don't go anywhere near the limits. They were idiots.

[vortigern]

Can't argue your point -- makes sense to me. I assume they filed a flight plan. Wouldn't going to that altitude disregard the flight plan? Or, wouldn't going to that altitude require authorization from flight controllers? Just wondering.

[cajungirl]

That is what I think. If that was how high it was supposed to fly, then why did the engines stop. Something is wrong here.

[July 4th]

Not to mention that there's probably a safety margin built into the published max altitude. 41,000 shouldn't have been a problem; max specs were probably higher.

[Blueflag]

Per http://www.aerospace-technology.com/projects/crj200/specs.html

12,496 meters or ~FL410 is indeed the "maximum".

I just wonder if 41,000 is the maximum because of how the aircraft is pressurized, the state-of-the-art of the rubber jungle in the cockpit (for flights aboveFL 410) OR if that really is the flame-out altitude. There is a "B" version of the CRJ2 - configured for hot or high altitude operations, but I presume they mean take off/ runway conditions related to air density.

Who knows.

Bottom line, they had the runway in sight at Jefferson and ran out of glide path. Sad.

[Finalapproach29er]

There are bold pilots, and old pilots- but there are no old,bold pilots.

[Ronaldus Magnus]

If FL410 is the max published altitude for the Canadair, then the fault is not the pilots' for going there.

I have no idea why the investigators and some of the posters here having such a difficult time with this simple concept. Crying "pilot error" in this case makes no sense based on the facts presented in the article. It's like blaming an old lady for having her blender shatter after she dared push the "high" button to de-pulp her orange juice. I guess it's just easier to blame the dead than to admit that there might be something wrong with the design parameters.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

I agree with you. The pilots, knowing they were being recorded, should have had their game faces on but it isn't wrong to go to max altitude for training. I'm curious as to why they couldn't get a restart after descending.

I'm also wondering if the pilot's manual had proper cautions and warnings published for flying that high. And what about that max altitude of 41,000 feet? Is that the max given in the flight manual, a rumor among pilots, or what some veteran test pilot got it up to?