Flew a 182 thursday/friday on a 2hr flight e/w with four adults and bags. As this was the first time i'd flown more than two up on this type, diligently went through the performance/m&b calcs and not suprisingly even on this "proper" four seater tourer I had to accommodate a notable fuel reduction to stay both under weight and accommodate field limitations/factors.
There are probably not many amongst us who when we get familiar with a type, rely less on a formal calculation and more on our historical performance knowledge/seat of the pants. For me a summer departure in a 140 from Derby a few years ago cerainly gave me a "I learned about flying from that" experience
One other thought based on the eye witness above is the comment re: lots of traffic and a/c waiting departure. Not sure what the relative humidity was on saturday, but carb ice...
Lets hope we can all either learn something new or re-learn something we forgot from this tragic accident.