Accident Sequence
According to the student pilot, the flight departed from runway 09. At an altitude of 300 feet above ground level, she began experiencing difficulty controlling the airplane, describing it as "fighting with the yoke." She adjusted the trim, but reported that the "nose was up and the airplane was coming down." The pilot squawked 7700 on the transponder and prepared for a precautionary landing by closing the throttle. She selected a field located approximately two miles northeast of the departure end of runway 09. The airplane impacted the ground hard, with the nose wheel striking first, then slid across a wet pasture before coming to rest in a pond.
Pilot Actions and Circuit Breaker
The student pilot stated that the autopilot circuit breaker had been pulled prior to flight. She noted that the autopilot had run through preflight checks when electrical power was applied to the aircraft before departure. According to the student pilot, her flight training instructed her to pull the circuit breaker prior to each solo flight and not to operate the autopilot at this stage of training.
Post-Accident Examination
Examination of the airplane after the accident revealed that all circuit breakers were in the "IN" position. The nose landing gear had collapsed aft and to the left, and the engine firewall sustained damage. The elevator trim was found in a nose-up position.
Autopilot System Testing
A series of tests were conducted to verify the operation of the autopilot computer, autopilot circuit breaker, autopilot disconnect switch on the yoke, and the trim switch. The autopilot and its components operated normally during these tests, with no anomalies detected.