Quote History Originally Posted By zaitcev:
Reportedly, Dan insists that locking tailwheel is optional.
Also reportedly, Juan said that one of the brakes broke.
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Reference my above post. He has a response video out now that explains everything in detail. His speculation(because more investigation to come) is it was a brake issue. He clearly stated the tail wheel being locked or not is/was not the issue. After they hit the tree the right engine continued to run at high speed. Could not shut it down due to all the severed connections. Took a lot of water in the intake to get it to quit running. Luckily there was an irrigation service truck very nearby full of water.
Both of them were amazed at how fast the plane changed directions. The 3rd person passenger had to be cut out due to mangled wreckage.