WhyBy, if the slats deploy and reduce the stall speed, but you are already stalled, you still need time (altitude) for that change to help your corrective action. Someone previously mentioned inertia. Time is/was in short supply.
411 hit on a good point, which I think is embedded in the term "upset" as applied to this mishap. Somewhere in and around vref, rotation, lift off, and initial climb, control of pitch wasn't as expected/normal.
Very brief window of time to salvage this upset, if it can be.
That last is not yet known. If the load moved (or for some other reason CG got/was too far aft) this may not have been salvageable despite anyone's most perfect efforts.
Last edited by Lonewolf_50; 2nd May 2013 at 19:15.