Watched the interview with the controller.
The passenger/pilot asked "shouldn't we put flaps?" so they put in flaps but the pilot said the plane felt unsteady, didn't seem willing/able to trim it out, so they took out the flaps.
They pulled out the pilot's radio headset when they moved him out of the way, sounds like they damaged the connectors in the process.
The Garmin was black? How did that happen?
bluepost22