"peter" wrote in message
ups.com...

Because they were human and sometimes make mistakes, especially under
conditions of poor visibility such as caused by having to look in the
direction of the sun near the horizon.


Why would they be looking in the direction of the sun near the horizon
instead of in the direction of the runway?



Go out just before sunset and look at the sky in the direction opposite
from the sun. You should notice that it's already considerably darker
than at midday even though the sun has not yet set. Looking in that
direction a plane would be very easy to see because it would be
brightly lit by the sun and is set against a darker background sky. If
the landing light is on that would make it even more visible.

So at the time of this accident the crew of the landing plane had
relatively poor visual conditions while if the crew of the plane on the
ground had been in a position to look back they would have had
excellent visibility.


If it's truly just before sunset there isn't much sun above the horizon to
be shining in the eyes of the approaching crew.



Presumably the purpose is to be able to respond quickly to a clearance
to take off. If the plane is angled but full power can still be
applied and the plane's path down the runway straightened out in the
first few seconds of the takeoff roll then no time would be lost and
the same purpose would still be achieved.


Time is lost because full power is not being applied in the direction of the
takeoff roll.