It was important for the investigation to establish the position of the mechanical activators on the flaps, since their lack of deployment was a fundamental cause of the accident. A special investigation was carried out to establish what had happened with the flaps. The extended flaps alter the aerodynamic characteristics of the aircraft, giving the aircraft lift to get off the ground at a lower speed over a shorter distance than would be possible "without" flaps. Even if it had been possible to reach the higher no-flaps take-off speed before the end of the runway, it would still have been necessary to have enough runway to do so. This is why in practice, there are no runways that would allow the take-off of medium- to large- size aircraft without flaps.