Mooney_Driver wrote:
To me, the condition of that propeller is clear evidence that this prop was not turning on impact
It certainly had to be windmilling. But then it is odd it is bended fwd. Obviously the speed relative to the terrain was low. This means she had to fly almost equally steep relative the terrain just before touch down. The steepness of the terrain is not something you can see at altitude, especially not when there is snow.
Engine failure, looking around, found some spot that looked OK from above, landed. The terrain could equally well have been flat, or worse – sloped the other way. Anyway, I don’t know what happened, but the result is most definitely 99% luck.
I cannot imagine a scenario where I would choose to force land on the top of a mountain, especially in snow……
should be making an immediate visit to the nearest corner shop to buy a lottery ticket.
That would be wasted €s… they’ve already used their ticket 
LeSving wrote:
It certainly had to be windmilling.
That depends on the reason for the power failure…
dublinpilot wrote:
But how would it be bent FORWARD if not under power? That’s not a statement, but a genuine question.
It’s not obvious to me that the blade is actually bent forward. It could just as well be twisted in such a way that it appears to be bent forward from the angle at which the picture is taken. E.g. the picture in Bosco’s post is taken from the 10 o’clock position and you can’t really distinguish between a blade which is bent forward or starboard. At 0:58 in the video posted by Mooney_Driver, the view is through the plane of the propeller disc and it does not suggest that the blade is bent forward.
Perhaps the aircraft slid backwards down the slope and this is what bent the prop forwards.
Airborne_Again wrote:
That depends on the reason for the power failure…
True, but that makes it even stranger it is bent forward.
Making a line along the propeller, and it for sure looks like it is bent forward.
Doing the same from the front, it for sure looks like it also is bent counter rotation vise.
The only way that can happen is IMO if the engine was producing thrust and then went straight into the snow. This would stop it, bend it forward and counter rotation vise. The engine would stop also of course.
I agree.
I cannot imagine a scenario where I would choose to force land on the top of a mountain, especially in snow……
I definitely can. Flying above the Alps and above solid cloud
Otherwise I would use my special topo map to head for a canyon. But a nice landing spot would be hard to resist.
Hypothetical scenario, but this pilot did it for real, and very well.
Stickandrudderman wrote:
Perhaps the aircraft slid backwards down the slope and this is what bent the prop forwards.
That’s sort of my thinking also. The prop may have caught some rocks underneath the snow as the plane slid backwards after landing, as, given the steepness of the terrain, it almost inevitably would have. In fact, that prop may well have saved their lives by preventing the airplane from sliding down the mountain.
Again, why land on top of a mountain in snow ? It makes zero sense. In VFR.
