ORIGINAL: STKNRUD
Most accel/stall occurr or are demo in horizontal flight as in a dearture stall/spin. They are very infrequently seen by ground observers (or pilots for that matter) in a nearly vertical nose down position. What appears as a spiral in the video is most likely a spin but the entry, because it was nearly vertical, makes it appear different. The explanation of flap/radio was very vague....what is the specific evidence? Again, no way to know for sure, but what is the probability of some kind of interference issue at that most likely point you would expect a stall/spin to happen in this circumstance. PROBABLE CAUSE.
The attitude or direction of the flight path at entry are immaterial, as is the flight path once the spin is established, because the laws of aerodynamics don't care which way the jet is flying. A snap on a down line looks the same as one on an up line or a horizontal one.
If the inside wing had been stalled, regardless of the direction of flight, the jet would have been wrapped up a lot tighter and rotating around it's vertical axis and the center of mass of the airplane would have been traveling in an essentially straight line.
What I see in the vid is a barrel roll on a down line. The flight path in the vid, IMO, is not supportive of the snap/spin theory.
The flight path, when coupled with the apparent evidence of flap anomolies, are why I continue to support/defend a pilot I have never met. There is just too much reasonable doubt to be rubber-stamping this as "pilot error", and doing so completely disgards other scenarios from which we might all learn lessons in an effort to preserve the life spans of out own jets.
I think that the very most a reasonable observer should conclude is that it "might" be pilot error. I view as ill-concieved those opinions which categorise it as "probable", let alone "certainly" or "plainly" pilot error.
Cut. The. Guy. Some. Slack. Already.
Please.