As I said "Devils advocate"
I am less interested in the technical aspects of this than the pprune court of justice that has condemned this guy with very little hard evidence and the statement of one eye witness who was questioning rather than accusing.
I have no evidence to offer one way or the other technically so I won't offer an opinion one way or the other, what I say is it is wrong to hang this guy without knowing the FULL facts.
Over twenty years ago now I was involved in recovering a PA38 that had been involved in a main landing gear failure while taxing, the flaps had been down when the gear failed and we recovered the aircraft without further damage to the aircraft. The next week I am having a cup of tea in the club house when on the next table I hear someone telling the assembled crowd that the flaps and wing of the aircraft were damaged beyond repair by the people who recovered the aircraft because they dragged the aircraft clear of the runway by towing it with the wing unsupported.
I may or may not think that the guy was unwise to fly this aircraft, but for me the issue is not a technical one, it is the way some of you are so keen to condem a guy with little other evidence apart from the comments of other posts that have offer little new detail of the original incident.