What happened
After departing from the 8,200-foot long runway 12L, the aircraft reached an altitude of 300 feet while turning through 080 degrees toward a heading of 020. During this maneuver, the right engine stopped developing power.
The pilot performed several emergency checks, ensuring throttles, mixtures, and propeller controls were full forward, boost pumps were ON, and fuel was selected to the MAIN tanks. Following these checks, the pilot decided to return to runway 12L for an emergency landing.
As the aircraft turned toward the dead engine, the pilot reported a sensation that the airplane might roll over, prompting him to retard the left engine to idle. This action caused a high sink rate. The pilot attempted to correct this by increasing power to the left engine, but after again feeling a loss of control, he idled the left engine once more.
The pilot lowered the landing gear and flattened the aircraft's attitude, resulting in a hard touchdown on the runway. Upon impact, the left main landing gear collapsed. Following the impact, the right engine regained power, at which point the pilot secured both mixtures.
The investigation
A post-crash examination conducted by FAA personnel revealed no anomalies in the aircraft's mechanical systems.