Originally Posted by
Pilot DAR
I speculate entirely about the damage to the wing resulting from the wing tip float being ripped off (let alone probably the leading edge of the wing also striking the tree). It is possible that when the wing tip float ripped off, it tore skin from the underside of the wing too. It would not take too much ripped wing skin, peeled back and flapping, to cause immense drag, which is well out the wing as well.
Yes, that was what I was alluding to as a possibility when the float was ripped off.