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RIP fellow.
I picture the landing gear doors being fully extended open. I've had it happen twice.
The first was when I had the main power cable from the battery short, killing all the power and filling the cabin with smoke. This happened at gear retraction just as everything locked into place. It went right back to the airport as I pumped the gear down. It takes an amazing amount of power to maintain level flight—much more than expected.
The second was after one of my "Hurricane" patrols. I had been out in the Gulf of Mexico for 5:30 in some very nasty weather, bone tired. That 5:30 had been flown at 500' ASL as I had never been able to get any higher. It was almost dark as I turned final at GLS. When I lowered the gear, I heard the "thump" and saw the amber gear light, but I experienced the "speed brake drag." I brought up a considerable amount of power, the flaps back to 1/3, and landed. This was caused by a gear microswitch failure on the pilot side main. It had not been made, so the system thinks it is not locked and leaves all the doors open.
Owners focus on the gear door removal as an item to remove the momentary negative performance with the door cycle during an engine failure before or at that point. I see the doors being locked out as an emergency, and the two experiences caused me to remove the doors immediately after the second event.
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