Originally Posted by
RetiredF4
The key answer will be, what the crew caused to request descent to lower altitude.
As long as there is no answer that makes sense the flightpath along the canyon is one of few possibilities.
Agreed,
however there is no other reasonable way of getting to the crash site other than flying up the canyon.
The walls left and right down the canyon are higher than the impact location. So they would have to be in a dramatic descent immediately prior to the crash in order to get there without flying up the canyon.
Try 'flying up the canyon' yourself in Google Earth and you will see what I mean.