What makes you think it came apart? I haven't seen anything to suggest that but I haven't been watching super close. Seems more likely it was a stall and loss of control into the ocean. But I'm certainly not 99% sure of anything.
And the comment about 'forgetting protocol' and not calling a mayday...others have addressed it, but that is nothing about not doing things correctly. The only thing that will save the airplane is trying to save the airplane. Calling a mayday does absolutely nothing to prevent a crash.
I will say that this sounds like an issue where they didn't get the clearance they wanted to avoid weather. And as much as we typically adhere to clearances given by guys like Acey, there are times where it is appropriate to violate the clearance in order to keep the plane safe. These guys may have been too concerned with the controllers clearance, and not enough with the CB (thunderstorm) that was the primary threat.
I have had situations where ATC was unable to give the clearance I needed, but in a situation where the clearance is putting you into a CB there comes a time where you have to avoid the weather and tell the controller what you are doing and what you need. As Acey said, the weather for Canadian controllers is not very good so they don't know the gravity of the situation necessarily. US controllers have much better weather radar on their display.
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