Originally Posted by
FH1100 Pilot
We know that the owner of the company did say that the pilot of the L-IV reported that he needed to refuel upon landing. The RUMOR that I heard was that the situation was much more critical than simply "needing to refuel." The RUMOR is that he ran it down and it flamed out, and then he mishandled the engine failure. I know, I know...it's wrong to be casting aspersions like this so soon. But it might fit the scenario and offer some explanation. If the pilot was slow in responding (or responded incorrectly) to the engine failure, a yaw could have occurred and the sideslip might have been `sufficient to break the tail boom off. Why the transmission came off...I don't know. The videos of the crash do seem to show that the airframe yawed (one way or the other - hard to tell) just prior to everything coming apart.
"IF" fuel was critically low, wouldn't the pilot elect to land at that jetty when the fuselage crashed, or opt to inflate the skid fitted float bags, and just land safely on the water or the jetty? (maybe experienced pilots could comment)