ok, watching from the sidelines, and I'm ignoring politics.
I'm also ignoring for the moment the inflight fire theory.
On the wrong day with the wrong payload it is perfectly possible to get airborne into the wrong side of the drag curve, and you will stay there.
Put enough foliage through what the reverse flow can't handle, you will have flames.
For what it is worth, I have been there in a far more powerful aircraft where all the performance data said it would fly: it did, but for a critical few seconds couldn't quite make up it's mind.
As an observer to this I would advise nobody to push a " it couldn't be that way" scenario until all the facts are on the table.
History in our line of business demonstrates repeatedly that the random sometimes causes the unthinkable.