I thought that the maximim takeoff weight of the C172 was 2300 lbs, not 2100 lbs. In any case, the initial reports said they'd been in the air for close to 2 hours when the accident occurred so they should have burned off a fair amount of fuel by then. But it is true that the accident happened in the area where WWFC has done their airwork for many years. I do hope that he wasn't showing off for his friends. As PilotDAR said, a 172 with weight in the back seat / baggage area handles much differently during stalls and spins. When I was teaching on them decades ago, we were forbidden to do stall / spin training with any payload weight aft of the front seats.
Last edited by J.O.; 30th August 2012 at 12:54.