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Old 1st Apr 2016, 15:26
  #46 (permalink)  
pattern_is_full
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Denver
Posts: 1,226
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Indeed.

The MU-2 gets its cruise speed performance through having a narrow, low-drag wing - think of it as a miniature ATR. At pattern speeds you have to have the flaps out, and not retract them too soon on a go-around. That's part of the special training required.

If you are new in type, and used to more normal craft of a similar size/power, and revert to habit in a stressful situation ("Gotta reduce drag - flaps up!"), you can easily join the ranks of MU-2 statistics.

Flaps could have been in transit at the moment of impact, and ("almost 90 degree bank") one wing "broke" before the other, so that discrepancy (if not just a photo illusion) may be an outcome, not a cause. The investigators will have clues that we don't have yet - flap handle position and flap position indicator, from the cockpit.

That being said, there were plenty of other challenges on this approach. Freezing temps, low vis, low ceiling, precip, terrain that rose higher than the cloud base, no GS guidance.
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