finfly1;
One interview however with a witness on the ground seemed to sound more credible than usual, as he described his own driving direction (east) and stated that the aircraft which he saw was travelling in the opposite direction from normal landings and approaches to 23.
I listened to that interview as well and it was a very "rational", calmly described eye-witness account - very credible, so far as eye/ear witness accounts go.
The aircraft was described as:
- Low...300, 400ft
- Descending "steeply", but he qualifed that by saying he was looking at it "up through the top of his windshield" and it was (as you say) going away from him, (so judging "steepness" from that angle is difficult - they all look "steep")
- left wing slightly low, no extreme bank angle
- landing gear "up"
- no fire anywhere on the airplane
- "unusual engine noise", but he admitted he doesn't fly that often so it all may be "unusual".
- The direction of the flight was north to northwest and not south.
The eyewitness lives in the apartment one house away from the crash-site.
The approach they appeared to be planning was the ILS - are there any NOTAMS indicating unservicabilities of the ILS system that anyone flightplanning into that area may know about?