If the impact location on wikipedia is correct, that would indicate something happened halfway through the immediate righthand turn in the missed approach of the VOR DME 15 approach.
Are Laotian pilots perhaps ex military and trained on soviet hardware? If so, spatial disorientation resulting from the attitude indicator working the other way around vs in western airplanes might have been a factor. Crossair 498 comes to mind.
For those who don't know: Soviet era attitude indicators move the airplane symbol, not the background/horizon. So instead of levelling out of a bank, the instinctive reaction would increase the bank, as happened with the Crossair 498 crew (who were Moldavian/Latvian nationals trained on said hardware).
Last edited by physicus; 17th Oct 2013 at 21:45.