FLIGHT SAFETY
Please leave the posts just as they are I think that it is a good insight into what MIGHT have been the reason for the pilot attempting the impossable.
W COLLINS
Like me you have a very pessimistic view of light twin SE performance.
With regard to the BAe 748 land back at Stansted some years back I was able to talk to the captain of that aircraft ( i was flying another RR dart powerd type at the time and wanted to know why it failed) Performance was not an issue in this case , the fire was ! and the "land back" would have left the aircraft with no further damage had there not been a drainage ditch just off the end of the runway.
This was a superb piece of airmanship and undoubtidly saved the lives of all aboard as the fire would soon have destroyed the wing.
This also leaves me to speculate if the air france Concorde would have been better to have landed stright ahead in a field after all it was in the same performance situation as a light twin ,50% of its power missing and too much drag , with the landing gear stuck down.
This is of course sbject for discussion and not a critisisum of the crew involved i doubt that I would have done any thing different as the "land back " option is one that is not at the top of your mind in a perf A aircraft.