On 12/29/2014 4:30 PM, Tim wrote:
Another thing to consider is the plane was already at 38000 ft and the craft is rooted for a safety cowling of 39. And the pilot requested to climb? Maybe it was like the USS Thrasher only reverse


Thresher.

What I am hearing is it was flying at 32,000 ft and the pilot requested
38,000. That request was denied due to other aircraft in the area.

It raises the question of why the pilot tried to climb anyway (assuming
he did).

What actually happened will eventually come out if they recover the
black boxes. My pure guess right now is faulty input data in the flight
management system causing the pilot to react in a manner that was
inappropriate, further complicated by the thunderstorms and attempts to
avoid them.

I think the altitude rating is conservative and is for normal flight
conditions. It can actually go higher but it's not normal procedure.