SF technique in this aeroplane SHOULD be 2 stages of flap. Otherwise you are just adding drag and not improving climb performance much.
Unless the pilot pulls up a bit too hard (remember that this plane was very likely substantially overloaded) in which case a flight slightly above Vs can turn into a flight below Vs.... or there is a loss of power.
From an eyewitness:
"He tried to pull the aircraft up to clear the trees which he did do and in order to get lift he pushed the nose of the aircraft down and it immediately crashed and there was an extremely large black bloom of smoke."
I speculate that flight above Vs could have become flight below Vs.
I had a lucky escape not long after I got my licence doing some hour building in California. It was 110degrees on the ground in Maclellan airport, we decided we had enough fuel to get back to California with a 172, thank God we didn't fill it.
Took off with 3 up and bag's. got out of ground effect, next thing was airspeed was reducing from 70kts back to 60kts. We raised the nose and were still simmering down toward the ground. Then the aircraft stopped decending, stayed at the same level for about 20sec's (felt like 20 mins) then slowly, very slowly climed away. We were lucky and I learned from it.
Me too in an Archer 3! We left Palomar and bearly got off their 5000' runway, with the stall warner buzzing away. Luckily the ground drops at the end of the runway (my father-in-laws office is at the end, so I wouldn't have been too popular if I'd landed on it!). Our IFR clearance was something like "climb straight ahead to 1500'". By 1500' we were way, way, way out to sea!