Incident Details
During takeoff, the pilot heard wind noise coming from the cabin door but decided to continue the flight. After leveling off, however, the cabin door suddenly popped open. The pilot tried unsuccessfully to close the door. Failing that, he attempted to reduce his airspeed by retarding the throttles. Without looking, he inadvertently retarded the prop levers that were on the left side of the quadrant. Since the levers also served as feather switches when in the retarded position, both propellers went into full feather.
The pilot attempted to bring both propellers out of feather, but because the aircraft was not equipped with unfeathering accumulators, he was unable to do so. He finally restarted the left engine, but it did not immediately develop enough power to allow him to arrest his descent and maintain a safe single-engine airspeed. With only a few hundred feet of altitude remaining, he decided to make an emergency landing.
Pilot Background
The pilot reported that he regularly flew aircraft which had throttles located on the left side of the quadrant. He also stated that he had not flown a 95-B55 in nearly 10 months, and then had only flown it 8 hours during the previous 12 months.