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Originally Posted by Airdale  Windmilling possibly? Last I checked, propeller driven airplanes will windmill unless the pilot feathers it. |
Keep in mind that the Cirrus has a constant speed prop. No pretty blue lever to play with, but it still has a constant speed prop. Odds are you can't feather it since it's a single engine. If you're feathering it, you're going down either way. You'll just have less drag to the site of the crash.
Couple of things they can look at to determine if the prop was still spinning (which isn't that big a deal but sounds good on TV). Score marks on the props, torsional damage, and bent prop tips can all show that the prop was turning at impact. Some of the data can even be translated into a rough estimation of RPM at the time of impact.