Whether or not it's germane to this particular incident, this is what I wrote some 5 years ago when discussing why 'aileron rolls', sometimes termed 'victory rolls' are so dangerous:
Anyway, back to the dangers of the 'victory roll'....
Usually observed to start from a high speed approach, balls-out on the deck, followed by a climbing aileron roll. As the aircraft runs in at high speed, it will very likely be trimmed for such speed.
Pulling up, it will begin to decelerate. Full aileron and rudder to balance will cause a lot of drag, so it'll decelerate even more. It has now slowed down and the untrimmed state will tend to pitch the aircraft nose down as the roll progresses; the pilot may well pull against this, reducing the apex height accordingly.
As the roll reaches the final wings level state, the aircraft will probably be descending and significantly out of trim. In addition, the attitude needed for level flight at the new speed will require a higher pitch angle than did the initial beat up. So the pilot may well need full aft control column to stop the descent and to oppose the out of trim state......and recovery to level flight may well take longer than anticipated, or may not be achieved until terra firma prevents any further descent.
And how many of us have seen Bloggs cock-up a barrel roll and bury the nose on exit....?
Andy was
very lucky not to have speared into the crowd having fallen out of that poorly flown manoeuvre at Southport, in my opinion.