Quote:
Originally Posted by SteveC 
Some of the data that I saw (unverified) gives the width of the river in that area at around 2000 feet. Consider that the diameter of a 180 degree turn, 30 degree bank, at 80 knots is very close to 2000 feet. Add in the fact that the SR20 stall speed, clean, level flight, at 30 degree bank, is 70 KIAS.
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Interesting, this sparked my interest and I looked further into it:
From an article recently posted, 710 wide corridor = 2130'
Aircraft was last tracked going 112 MPH, 700' just prior to making the turn
I did some googling and found:
Radius of turn / 30 degrees bank @ 112 MPH = 1460' = 2920' diameter turn
Radius of turn / 45 degrees bank @ 112 MPH = 842' = 1680' diameter turn
They would've had to do a pretty aggressive turn, especially considering that they *probably* weren't on the extreme east side of the river. I could see them diving in on it (lazy-8 type) which might explain why they were lower (500') at the point of impact.
According to maps.google.com, the river (and associated class B cutout) is just over 2000'. From the east bank of the river to where the aircraft hit it was 2650'.