The pilot was dirty. He had enough elevation, time and speed to get back to the runway but he ditched the plane on purpose.This whole thing is all wrong.
I do think there’s a drip-drip-drip aspect to the falsehoods shown throughout this crash. One plane occupant after the other shows himself (or herself) to be a compromised witness, telling untruths about things that are dispassionately discernable as being otherwise, even provably so.