I registered specifically to comment on the AAIB report.
I could not possibly comment on the aviation aspect as I have never flown FJ, but there are things in the report that concern me. It has been pointed out that the pilot started his "bent loop" way too low, too slow and with insufficient power applied, and no escape procedure was attempted. Likewise there seem to have been "strange" power variations after entry.
I see from above at #164 "hum" has just beaten me to it, but I just wanted to say that the idea of a possible TIA is what occurred to me when I read the report. I have witnessed such an event [not in the air] on more than one occasion, and if I had not done so no-one would have been aware that it had happened. TIA is often called a "mini stroke" but stroke symptoms do not manifest. Hence video recording of the pilot would not necessarily show anything wrong.
Extreme confusion lasting for a very few minutes was very disturbing, all the more so because there was no external physical sign of anything wrong. It was only confirmed later by a professor of vascular medicine [following Ultrasound, CT & MRI scans] that a TIA was most likely responsible. He further opined that it had left no trace and might never recur.
If that had happened to the pilot on the run in he would be unlikely to realise it unless he "felt funny". The report from the first responders states "He was treated by a doctor and nurse at the scene. He was described by the doctor as “fully aware of what was going on around him and not confused in any way”. The doctor recalled that the pilot, when asked if he felt unwell before the crash, replied “yes”. The investigation could not establish if the
pilot understood the intent of this exchange, in what way he might have felt
unwell, or if this was his answer.