Originally Posted by
Kbboy
An interesting account of one of the passengers: Search NBC News on YouTube. I cannot post links yet before reaching 5 posts.
So, according to his details, they hit the other plane while in the air and touched down afterward. While many reporters that were commentating on the CCTV video seem to suggest that the plane landed first and hit the other plane after 3-4 seconds. The initial pictures of the wreck suggest the nose of the A350 was damaged and the nose landing gear collapsed but the main gear seems OK. So, it could be that the pilots of the incoming A350 saw the Dash 8 at the last moment and tried to avoid it but the nose (and front underneath of the fuselage) of the Airbus hit the tail of the Dash 8 along with the nose landing gear and the rest of the plane would have bumped and escaped crushing the Dash 8. It then landed with the nose gear collapsed and scraped along the runway which caused the fire and also the delay in evacuation as pilots may have put the plane to take-off power while trying to avoid the crash.
The youtube vid a few pages back from the ex-pilot suggests that might have been the case given the engines damage and the nosewheel damage.