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Paul may be on to something. I looked at the original picture sent by Tom and if you look at the bottom of the spinner (not the top), it looks like it extends beyond the cowl. In the other picture of the plane on the ground there was some sag, but not enough to bring the spinner below the cowl line. A broken engine mount? Maybe the canopy being unlatched had nothing to do with it except to cause a distraction. Normally, a slight nose-down thrust vector is a stabilizing influence, not destabilizing. As I understand it the plane had low hours, so the fatigue failures of mounts we have seen shouldn't have been a factor. Gary Casey
Looking at the photo it does appear that the front of the cowling is “high” relative to the spinner. The cowling does appear to be still in position on the fuselage (no gaps and proper alignment of the paint features). I don’t know the condition of the wreckage but a broken upper motor mount could result in a nose down thrust vector. Enough to cause loss of control? Paul Bricker
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