[Drango]

The 777 will land itself. Honestly it doesn’t need a pilot IMHO. Darn near idiot proof. Something mechanical happened if you ask me.

[GeorgeWashingtonsGhost]

Agreed. A few seagulls or pelicans flying 50 yards out from the coastline can change everything. I’m callin’ bird(s) strike causing loss of power then tail strike!

[diogenes ghost]

"The 777 will land itself." Well, yeah it can, but in VFR conditions, autoland is seldom, if ever, used.

Now I'm agonna give my summation, from observations, and knock down some weird theories.

It almost surely suffered a tail strike, certainly by end of rocky end of over-run area, even possibly in water.

Only one heavy strike mark, so landing gear do not appear to have struck rock berm, only centerline (tail).

Aircraft almost certainly did NOT cartwheel.

Aircraft came to rest in a very short distance, indicating sheared mains or sideways sliding.

Post-accident fires can be immediate and violent, or start later and slower, or any combination thereof. Having a post-crash fire after a landing is not unusual, nor is it unusual for the aircraft to be successfully evacuated.

Been some strange theories floating, but tailstrikes (landing short) happen, probably always will.

Often accidents are the result of a chain of small failures that accumulate into a big one. There could be myriad mini-failures here...fatigue, sun-in-the-eyes, wind gust, power loss for whatever reason, control malfunction...who knows. But the end result is a tailstrike that could have turned out much, much worse than it did.

[Tzfat]

The 777 will land itself. Honestly it doesn’t need a pilot IMHO. Darn near idiot proof. Something mechanical happened if you ask me.

All modern airliners can "land themselves" (actually, they can't - someone still needs to bring the thrust to idle).

However, we RARELY use autoland. In visual conditions as SFO was today, we would NEVER do autoland. Autoland requires that all other aircraft and vehicles stay clear of various ground transmitters, which is only done when specifically requested (think, never), or when the weather is less than 800' ceiling and 2nm visibility.

[Cvengr]

I had the same impression. Landing appears to have been offset vertically and horizontally. It wasn’t that far off for the aircraft to have remained so intact. Looks like it was off 3m vertically, but it reportedly landed on the wrong runway.

Incredibly short stopping distance. I’m surprised the passengers could make it out after the shock impact.