First off, for those that took offence to the term meatbombs, Im sorry. My parachutist mates dont get offended when I call them that and worse so I didnt think many pilots on here would. Just like i dont get offended when they start making comments about the size of my watch.
On a more relevent note. Any of the speculation on here could be true. Lack of fuel? Sure maybe, but there was fuel in the water after.
of balance in the turn and starved the pick ups of fuel?? Sounds plausible
Not used to landing heavy??? Yeah, possible. So he landed like that just before? Doesn't mean that he cant EFF it up the second time.
Maybe the engine actually did just sh*t itself guys? Not the first time it's happend.
Heres one from left field. What if it was a control issue?? Maybe the skydivers down the back got sick of leaning forward and sat down and rested on the baggage shelf, that would go very close to putting a 206 out of balance. I can see it now, slowing down on approach, guys sit back, nose goes up, pilot pushes forward, nose keeps going up, WTF?? power up (so nose up more), flaps already full, behind the drag curve, cant power out, stall (sorry, plankie isnt here) into the trees.
What if he did change to the fullest tank on the way down? To a tank that had heaps of fuel in there. But just think, everything was happening a bit quick, he had a full load which was different and was concentrating on that, didnt quiet notice that the selector didnt go into the detent. Fuel starvation that way?
Whatever happend,
all survived which is the most important thing. That allows us to speculate more freely without feeling as though someone may get offended.