If confirmed, the preceding flight reported "IAS & ALT DISAGREE SHOWN AFTER TAKE OFF"
and "FEEL DIFF PRESS LT ILL". Assuming that despite overnight maintenance actions both issues re-occured on the accident flight, these combination may be quite significant, not only in terms of their cause, but for the sad outcome of this flight mainly in terms of their effect, in particular of the second message.
As concerns the cause, it would seem to me relatively rare for several pitot systems to fail simultaneously. To note that the ias/alt pitot system is separate from the elevator pitot system, the first being located at the front of the A/C, the second on each side of the front base of the V/S. (Repeated) Simultaneous failure of both systems would IMO indicate something more structural then the pitots themselves.
As to the effect, in particular the "FEEL DIFF PRESS LT ILL" could be of particular relevance. The elevator feel computer provides simulated aerodynamic forces using airspeed (from the said elevator pitot system) and stabilizer position. Feel is transmitted to the control columns by the elevator feel and centering unit. To operate the feel system the elevator feel computer uses either hydraulic system A or B pressure, whichever is higher. When either hydraulic system or elevator feel pitot system fails, excessive differential hydraulic pressure is sensed in the elevator feel computer and the FEEL DIFF PRESS light illuminates.
I stand to be corrected, but if (barring hydraulic problems) the elevator feel and centering unit enters into a condition that triggers the FEEL DIFF PRESS annunciation (for whatever reason, either pitots or a more systemic failure, since in this case also the "main" pitot system could have been affected simultaneously), it would mean that particularly in manual flight the elevator inputs through the control columns could have a much different (greater) effect than normal. It would be interesting to know whether such inputs with a "dysfunctional" feel and centering unit could lead to upsets with an ultimate loss of control, which at relatively low altitude would be difficult to recover from in time.
