What happened
The incident occurred while the aircraft was conducting a fourth practice approach. The student pilot, who was operating the controls at the time, failed to properly align the airplane with the runway center line. Additionally, the pilot flared too high during the landing phase.
As the situation developed, the instructor pilot attempted to take control of the aircraft. However, the intervention occurred too late to prevent a hard impact. The force of the landing caused the airplane to go out of control. It ran off the end of the runway and entered an adjacent cultivated field.
Upon coming to rest in the soft earth of the field, both the main and nose landing gear collapsed due to the ground conditions and the severity of the impact.
The investigation
The examination focused on the mechanics of the landing and the subsequent damage. The primary finding was the structural failure of the landing gear system. The main gear and nose gear were unable to support the aircraft's weight upon impact with the soft, uneven terrain of the field.