Originally Posted by
DaveReidUK
The damage to the L/E visible in the video looks consistent with the effect on the wing structure of the float being violently ripped off. It's worth noting that we can't see the underside of the wing at any point in the video.
the underside of the wing is not an overly sensitive area to the performance of the wing section, but it is taking tensile loads in normal loading. The LE being damaged, for the span in the images would be a severe impact to section performance, with a very large increase in Cd, reduced AOA for stall, and a reduced CL/AOA slope. The yaw and loss of lift causing additional roll is going to need everything that is in primary and secondary yaw and roll controls to achieve any mitigation, and there is no certainty that it is survivable at all. A P3C Orion overcooked an "overhead set heading" years ago, and blew 3 of 6 D sections off the wings, leaving half the wing with just a flat front face, despite over boosting an overpowered aircraft with 70%+ blown wing, the plane bled off energy rapidly, and lost ~250kts doing a 270 degree turn, and parked in the water in a reef lagoon. The LE controls much of the low speed performance of any airfoil.
If the crew have not had the opportunity to have advanced handling training, a stressful condition of an unexpected emergency with a critical performance and handling issue is challenging. Rudder and asymmetric power may have assisted, the rates look like the derivatives might get close, but the use of asymmetry comes with a compounding drag problem, so performance is going bad in all events.