OH my....
as I was reading the post, it went right over my head,
until I saw 232...
I have, tucked away somewhere, one of the creepiest pieces of paper you will ever see, related to that plane...
The Boarding passes from my second wife, and myself, from that exact plane, 2-1/2 weeks prior to the crash...
we were returning from a Florida trip, got re-routed into Chicago, and were transferred to 232, to Cleveland, while it was in route to somewhere east, Pa.?
The flight was a very short duration, basically straight up, then straight back down... made both of our ears explode.. almost, (no pun intended)... when we off loaded in Cleveland, and went to pick up our luggage from the carrousel... all our bags, and many others there, were covered in foamy hydraulic fluid... really pizzed me off, so i tossed them onto a carry cart, and went to the desk... to complain. When i got there they gave us the run around, and during the back and forth/phone this/phone that person there, to get some semblance of "compensation", I realized it wasn't just hydraulic fluid, but Skydrol... the smell gave it away..(I was working in the Aerospace/defense industry, for a company called Argo Tech, a division of TRW, and knew that smell, as an engineer in pumps, and ordinance; Oh that company also made Turbine Jet engine blades... Huge ones... )... they insisted it came from the "conveyor system", but I said b/s, and went directly to the FAA office in the airport, told them what I found, and told them to check that plane/not let it take off.. they said too late, it's fine, it's in the air, we'll right up the report..
I gave them samples of the fluid on paper towels, and filed a formal complaint of damages... When we saw the crash on the news, my wife looked at me, and said... is that the same plane?.. I pulled out the boarding passes, and we both freaked out.. a week later we got calls to "come in and tell us
again what you saw"... and
"bring that luggage, that got ruined with you"... Too late, we had thrown all the damaged stuff away a week prior..(I know how dangerous it was health wise, every time I was around it, I got skin rash, and coughed.. when it became a "mist" on a failed component we were testing, or a simple blown hose, we all ran.. ); but we did go in and "talk" to them..
Never heard anything after that point, and even called, and asked, and sent letters... they clammed up tight.
I frankly never bought the line given for the cause of the crash, when they said blade failure, and always felt it was an un seen problem that was pre existing.. thank goodness my company wasn't making the blades for GE.. but they did get hammered by the Gov't, for hiding "flaws" well prior to that incident.. doh.