What happened
During the short final approach, the crew encountered gusty winds. When the aircraft was approximately 8 feet above the runway, it descended and landed flat on all three landing gears. Following this initial impact, the airplane bounced. The captain applied partial power and full aft elevator input; however, the aircraft touched down again, with the nose making contact with the runway followed by the propellers.
The first officer noted that the captain was manipulating flight controls in response to turbulence during the approach. He described the landing as a hard impact, initially on the nose landing gear and then on the main landing gears. A subsequent bounce caused the aircraft to land hard on the nose landing gear once more, at which point the nose landing gear gave way. The aircraft then veered off the runway and came to an upright stop. There were no reported injuries.
Weather observations from the airport taken 4 minutes before and 13 minutes after the accident showed no reports of wind gusts or rain. Rain did begin 7 minutes after the accident occurred.
Findings
An investigation into company procedures revealed that the Director of Flight Operations had not authorized a seat exchange for this flight. According to company policy, the captain and first officer are prohibited from exchanging seats unless specifically authorized.