I just read something from the NTSB (not Debra, sorry, no picts!) that said they hit nearly inverted. Makes you wonder if they got slow turning final while circling, stalled it, or...?

I spent my first 4 years of "Professional Aviation" and 4,000 hours flying cancelled checks at night in a Turbo Commander (N9166N) four nights a week, every week, no vacations, and I started there at age 19 as a copilot, at 21 I moved to the left seat.

That airplane was a lot better than I was, thank God! Lots of power (when empty, as these two were) and it handled great, very easy to fly.

But don't belive me, ask Bob Hoover. Bob's personal ride was the piston powered Shrike, but in the summer of 1974, at the Reading (PA) Airshow, I was 14 and watching him fly the (then) new Turbo Commander, doing the same routine as he always did in the Shrike. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I'd be flying that Turbo Commode, 5 years later.

And yes, I did an aileron roll in it, and no, my copilot did not spill a drop out of his topless coffee cup. But his eyes did get really big!