Loss of Pressurization

[some_dude]

That is exactly right. I don't think they were able to recover any switch positions. However, they were able to look at some of the valves and determine their positions at impact.

I have a hard time imagining that there was enough of the aircraft left to even be able to know where the switches were set. I figured a nose dive from the kind of altitude, and the ensuing monsterous hole it drilled into the ground, the aircraft wouldn't be much more then a crushed tin can. (??)

 

[urflyingme?!]

Come on guys, aircraft don't plummet straight down constantly gaining speed until the make a crater the size of your highschool math teacher's nose. Still, I wonder how much wreckage they found. Great discussion here, continue!

 

[Checks]

In small cabin aircraft such as a Lear, MetroLiner, King Air, ect. Are there any general guidelines for transporting Dry Ice? Any suggestions, references, tips appreciated.

 

[User546]

OK, I take back what i said after reading this... Looks like the instrument panel, and other items got separated from the main wreckage upon impact.

From the Accident Report:

"...was characterized by a crater that measured 42 feet, 4 inches long (oriented east to west) by 21 feet, 7 inches wide (oriented north to south). The crater measured 8 feet, 6 inches at its deepest point, which was approximately 7 feet south of the crater's northern wall. The local terrain was relatively flat. A marsh was located approximately 80 feet due east of the crater.

A debris field of smaller wreckage, including instrument panel components, the flight manual, seat cushions, life vests, and personal effects, extended outward from the impact crater in a north-northeasterly direction toward the marsh. The debris field formed a conical shape of approximately 35 degrees."