[GekkePrutser]

If the reversers open, wouldn't just shutting down the engines lead to a better scenario than this? I recall a 737 gliding too a nearby airport in Canada when it ran out of fuel.

I suppose it depends on whether the crew would have been aware of it.

[benjaminwai]

Can the reversers be opened independently on left and right side? From some of the 3D plots on various threads it looks like the plane took a sharp left before diving. Could it be the left reverser malfunctioned or be accidently opened mid flight causing the plane to swirl left and lose the aerodynamic?

[belter]

They can. Although incredibly rare. There are a few military airplanes that use reversers in flight to quickly drop altitude, but not used in any commercial passenger airplane that way. That scenario of only one opening, is also addressed in the video from Mentour Pilot that I linked. A few minutes earlier in the video. They have a checklist for it.

[belter]

It all happened in less than 2 minutes. The airplane could be in a unrecoverable nose dive faster then could even realize what is happening.