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"Witnesses who were in the vicinity of the accident site reported that the airplane was flying at a low altitude and making turns. They then observed the airplane enter a steep nose-low attitude prior to descending toward the terrain." Their observations, at first glance, seem unlikely to shed light on the accident cause
It sounds like they descended to look at something on the ground, circled around it and stalled out into the ground. I'm a big believer in the Occam's razor approach to aviation accident investigation: the simplest answer is the one most likely to be correct. In this case, given a description of a nose drop and barring the discovery of the pilot being drunk, high or some form of significant mechanical issue, the most plausible explanation is a stall. It might not be PC to "blame the pilot" but the truth isn't always pleasant.
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One of the airplanes that I used to fly crashed in August, 2010, killing the pilot. Even with witnesses, the probable cause is still undetermined and, given the paucity of data, I would be surprised if there ever is a probable cause determination.
Which crash was that?