All the baloney about whether or not the Lance pilot should have put the gear down was covered many pages ago in this thread. The gear on that airplane is hydraulic. With one wing gone, the hydraulic system would have been open, the fluid gone in seconds. The gear then free-fell. Pilot had nothing to do with it.
Then why resurrect the issue? No one else has.
SP
This thread really has deteriorated to a state where the most "knowledgeable" posters are maybe a student pilot with four hours, the rest certainly don't belong on "a haven for professional helicopter pilots." Sad.
The posters on this thread include many helicopter pilots with intimate knowledge of the area. They have the good grace to answer questions from "4 hour student pilots" without criticism of the poster. We also have the good grace to accept that not everyone posting here is a "professional helicopter pilot".
SP
Oh, and Gordy, I don't know where the AP gets its information, but there were no ATC people "handling" either of those aircraft. Both were well below radar coverage in the area and were flying in VFR-only airspace. No positive control possible.
I suspect that the AP get their information from the FAA in the same way that you (as a journalist) get yours. It is already well established that the light aircraft was handed off by ATC: other than trolling, I don't understand your issue here.
SP