Let me throw a teaser out there.
Remember that they were flying in icing conditions. Maybe the pilot had something else on his mind at the moment the nose pushed over.
What are the indications of, and recovery technique for, a tail stall?
Odd... that was my thoughts back when it happened, that the pusher would mimic a tailplane stall in the q...
But in all honesty, the Q's engines can give you a little over 14,000hp (so long as the fadec allows it), which would require going to full over travel. At max gross, that is 4.6lbs/hp It should, and will power out of a stall in those conditions. Also, the gearing, at torque set up on the Q keeps the N1 in the optimal efficiency range for nearly all phases of flight, part of the reason why it won't slow down, but also means, if you slam the power up... there is almost no spool time, it's there. I've found many faults on this airplane, but the powerplants are phenominal.
Im not sure what the loading is, but I would guess somewhere near 54,000 lbs at arrival, So in full overtravel even if they were limited to 5000shp/side,(roughly mtop) they would have 5.4lb/hp. At full rated power, 3.85lb/hp.
Stall recovery in the Q is pretty much tought to unleash the motors, while holding on. The area where I've seen stuff go wrong is that F'in Yaw dampner. On a normal change from cruise or descent to climb power, it will give you nearly full ball deflection, and you really have to use your feet. Going from Flight Idle to full overtravel at a very slow airspeed would be a monster to get a handle of. You would need fast, and heavy rudder imput to keep it centered... which if flying on autopilot, the likelyhood of your feet being on the rudder pedals is slim. I also know that it took me at least a good 100 hours to get used to stepping on a rudder every time i change power, even with the yaw dampner on. I'm sure most of you can see where I'm going with this, so I will stop there.
That being said, there are some features of this A/C that were kept for a common type, which really shouldn't have been... and the limitations on these systems should be taught in training, and hammered into peoples minds. In a normal recovery A/S recovers fast enough that cross controling, or uncoordination will not upset anything except the drink carts. If it actually hit the crit AoA, and stalled... I would expect alot to go bad real fast. - (I would not be in the least bit supprised if this airplane climbed well at 31 deg pitch while in full overtravel... at max climb with 45 people on board it will do 180kts at 15 deg nose up...)
Was any of this related to the accident? prob. not. i have no idea. I do doubt this was caused by one cause. Do I see lots of chances for that fatal domino to be removed? yes. I hope we can all learn more from this than don't get slow.
In regards to the second incident... That only has me steaming mad... pissed, there is simply no excuse for it, and yes I do have the full story on it. I think you will find any other Colgan pilot on here shaking their heads at it. Some will fault training, which... but at some point we have to open our eyes and fly straight.
Finaly, for those who asked, Normal profile as now is given to us, 180kts to GS, no less than 160 to the marker, slowing for ref over the fence. - or as atc needs - roughly.