Originally Posted by NG708
Would be interested to know how the authorities knew what height it should be at on a climb out. Are they suggesting that it was performance-limited in some way?
This is only 2nd hand information, but the other day I got talking to someone who is an ATPL student in Sabadell and the subject came up. What he told me was that the plane (a C-172 with 4 POB and a full load of fuel) was over its MTOW, and as it veered (apparently they fly a RH circuit?) it lost altitude and hit the crane. This guy was not sure whether a stall occurred or simply there wasn't enough power to maintain a sufficient rate of climb.
The conclusion he seemed to imply was that, as well as there being failures in the preventative front, pilot error was a determining factor. He claims he was a friend of the pilot.
Please note that I'm only relaying what was said to me during a casual conversation with some unknown person. You should take the above as the rumour it is.