[Rich]

I was there and saw this happen. It certainly was a shock!

I was too far away to help, and there was a crowd there helping out. It was nice to see everyone pitch in to raise the tail of the aircraft to free those in the cockpit.

Afterwards I stood on the bank just next to where the plane hit it. I could clearly see the tracks in the ice runway to see the track of the aircraft.

They were going straight down the runway and then at one point there was one obvious left turn off the center of the runway, then it ran straight until it hit the snowbank, and the resultant flip.

My guess (a total guess) is that the P-factor took over here, and perhaps the pilot couldn't or didn't correct for it fast enough? Someone else mentioned steering by brakes until the rudder was effective. Obviously we don't know what happened, but the aircraft took a definite turn towards the snowbank and then straight until hit the soft snow, carried a bit and then flipped. The tracks were quite straight both before the turn and afterwards, there was no wobbling or shifting from side to side to indicate if someone was trying to correct for a slippery steering environment.

Sad to see, but I heard everyone got out safely, and this is most important.