surplus1 wrote
If we are to achieve the purpose, we must determine the factual cause beyond all reasonable doubt.
no, "beyond all reasonable doubt" is not possible in a lot of cases, and may not be possible in this case..
however, there is a lot of information already available in regards to the "most likely" cause of this accident, and that with a very high probability will be, that an aircraft had most probably encountered extreme weather and control over the aircraft most probably because of this extreme weather had been lost..
it is of secondary importance what additional difficulties had been encountered, like iced pitots, and whatever implications that may have had on the flight control system and the crews interaction..
Thunderstorms are killers, that's it, you may very likely lose control over the aircraft, your aircraft may ice up, you may lose important parts of your aircraft due to high loads, your aircraft may be "airconditioned" by huge hail, your engines may suffocate and die, you may break up in flight or being thrown out of the base of a CB with no room and no reference to recover..
and it makes no difference at all which type of aircraft it was..
so what we learn and should take away from this case already..
avoid CBs at ALL COST, that may help us
P.S.: all the speculation in the thread about pitots, and ALTN Law and what you have here, THAT is pretty useless, I agree, and will not help us..