Actually, the cone is not from a sonic boom. The air in front of the jet is getting more compressed as the jet flies faster and then decompresses as it flows past the surface of the plane. As it decompresses, it cools (this is how a refrigerator works). When the conditions are just right, as the air cools when it's being decompressed it reaches the dew point in the atmosphere. The moisture in the air will then condense into water vapor (a cloud) which is what you see. Great video!!

Upon a review of the photo of the recovered plane, there are certain tell tale signs of the forces that deformed the aircraft. The most prevalent is the condition of the leading edge of the wing. The shape of the curve to the leading edge is VERY strong, yes it can be dinged easily with a point load, but to deform the entire length of it requires a tremendous force. The leading edge is deformed in a way that there must have been a uniform load across the entire span at the same time that pushed it straight back into the ribs. The only way this could occur is by the entire length of the leading edge of the wings hitting the water perpendicular at the same instant, at a very high rate of speed. The propeller spinner tells the same story of being deformed straight back whether from hitting the water or the bottom of the river. To me, to get this type and amount of deformation, the aircraft entered the water at a high rate of speed nose first straight in perpendicular to the water. Also, I believe there is damage to the propeller although the angle of the photo it is hard to detect. It looks like the left side of the propeller (looking at the photo) is pushed rearward and twisted a bit by looking at the angle of the tip compared to the angle of the root by the spinner.

I disagree with making assumptions about the chain of events that led up to this accident. Yes he was solo on a photo job, but one cannot assume that was a cause of distraction. The photos do lead in the direction of a stall/spin, unfortunately, these occurrences occur to often on "normal" flights and there are many different chain of events that lead to this outcome. With ADS-B and GPS information, the investigators will assemble the flight path.

Thanks Erv, means a lot coming from you!

Thank you for the kind words!

Thanks guys, it is cropped quite a bit. I'm thrilled with the new lens!

I haven't posted in a long time, good to be back! I splurged and got the new Tamron DI VC USD G2 150mm-600mm lens which was used for this shot. Hand held, +- 250 yards at 600mm. Very pleased with the results!

Thank you for the thumbs up Jan!

That is very interesting about the bands, I had no idea that occurs. I'll have to look at some of my other photos, I know I've seen two bands. It will be interesting to see where the came from!

Thanks for looking Jeanbug!

Thank you Doc!

Yes, a Canon 550D, but not in RAW, my chip was getting full...
I have CS6 & can play with some adjustments.
The Grobs are all fiberglass and very quiet, like having a window open an inch or so in the car, I know what you mean about G's, on a half decent day in a small thermal it's not uncommon to circle for half hour at close to two G's, but that's half the fun!!
I have total respect for ATC!!

Thanks Erv, I don't know if he is a rescue, there are two adults and a juvinile that hang around a local lake. The two adults have bands.

Thank you for the kind words!

The WB was on daylight though it was overcast outside. This was a 55-250 shot at 225mm but cropped quite a bit, thats why I didn't store the original...

My avatar is a Grob 103 glider, I love soaring! I also have a Piper Cherokee that I derived my screen name from.

Patience and perseverance pay off once in a while

Thank you for the nice comments and the thumbs up!!

Thank you Kising!