My original intent mentioning ETOPS was supposed to be a point about wild speculation being detrimental to reporting and recommendations, unfortunately the point got lost in a copy paste mistake while rearranging my comment.
ETOPS absolutely _could_ have made the difference here. Either by avoiding the engine failure in the first place my way of more strict maintenance requirements, or potentially by setting the expectation that the aircraft can operate with a single engine and causing the pilots to rethink which engine was underperforming.
But just like the original article, speculation like that is not practical for an NTSB report
Yes, really. The pilots checked flaps/gear multiple times trying to diagnose the speed & altitude issues. The article says the pilots assumed that was the expected performance of the old engines, but I haven't read the transcripts to see if that's another speculation/editorialization by the author. Theorizing that better expectations for single engine performance could have avoided the crash is no more of a leap than what the author made.
The point of ETOPS is to ensure that pilots can continue to operate the plane on a single engine, and that the likelihood of dual engine failure is vanishingly small. It explicitly requires manageable pilot workload (which was cited by the NTSB as a failure/contributor to this crash), and is implemented in part through more rigorous maintenance and inspection.
You're right that ETOPS would not be required for a flight like this but aside from the notable flight envelope difference (since ETOPS focuses on engine failure while cruising far from airports) the considerations for ETOPS are very similar to considerations that would go into prevention this crash in the future.
ETOPS absolutely _could_ have made the difference here. Either by avoiding the engine failure in the first place my way of more strict maintenance requirements, or potentially by setting the expectation that the aircraft can operate with a single engine and causing the pilots to rethink which engine was underperforming.
But just like the original article, speculation like that is not practical for an NTSB report