What happened
Shortly after takeoff, while at an altitude of approximately 20 to 25 feet, the engine RPM on the aircraft dropped from 2,700 to 400. As the airspeed decreased following this power loss, the airplane began to roll to the left. The pilot attempted to maintain altitude by keeping the nose up and leveling the wings.
As the aircraft began to settle, the RPM increased to 700. The airplane touched down on the ground and subsequently bounced back into the air. While at approximately 20 feet above the ground, the engine RPM dropped to zero, causing the left wing to drop again. The pilot leveled the wings once more, but by this point, the aircraft was positioned to the left of the runway. The pilot elected to land in the dirt alongside the runway, where the airplane touched down hard and slid for a short distance.
A passenger in the right front seat reported that after a short takeoff roll, the plane became airborne, descended, bounced, and then came down very rapidly, striking the left wing first. A passenger in the right rear seat noted that the takeoff was loud and characterized by heavy vibration and rough operation.
The investigation
An examination of the aircraft's stabilizer trim revealed an almost full nose-up trim setting. Additionally, the rudder trim was set to full nose left. Aside from these settings, no other anomalies were found during the inspection of the airplane.