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The problems, he says, began because the aircraft was far too close to the runway when it started its landing descent. “Ideally you should have lined up straight with the runway by 300ft above the ground and the pilot was well below this. The late roll out [where the aircraft gradually loses speed just above the runway] has given the pilot very little time to realise the rate of descent was too high.” When the plane hit the runway the deceleration was so dramatic there was not enough speed and lift to stop the left wing stalling – and there is very little a pilot or computer control system can do once this happens.