RST Engineering wrote:


From the shadows, it appears that the accident occurred between noon and 2
pm.


Yep, noon.



In Grass Valley, it was 94 dF at that time, and Cameron Park is about 1700
feet lower. Presuming a standard lapse rate of 3.5 dF per thousand feet,
the temperature at Cameron was about 100 dF.


yep, 98F.



Altimeter setting at that time in Grass Valley was 30.06 and I doubt that it
changed much between here and 25 miles south. That would make the density
altitude somewhere in the vicinity of 4100 feet.

yep.



Cameron Park winds were most likely light; we had been reporting winds on
Thursday most of the morning and early afternoon at no more than 5 to 8
knots. From the hair ruffling of the one "sputtering" witness I'd say that
was about right.


Yep, reported to be about 5 knots by a witness.



The aircraft appeared to be an A36. The performance charts for a density
altitude of 4100 feet showed that the aircraft should have required about
2100 feet of runway roll with a 5 knot tailwind and a climb thereafter of
1000 fpm.



One of the guys on the Beech list I frequent did the math for his V35.
At gross, 40C, 10 knot tailwind he needs 3200 feet to clear a 50 foot
obstacle. This guy was looking at rising terrain so his sight picture
was a little off. Since his A36 with the 550 has an altitude
compensating fuel pump his mixture shouldn't have been a problem.
There's some speculation his prop control wasn't in all the way.