What happened
On September 5, 2005, a Thrush S2R T660-114DC, registration N40789, was conducting a ferry flight from St. Johns, Canada, to Rabat, Morocco, with a technical stop at St. Maria Airport in the Azores. The aircraft, operated by Thrush Aircraft Inc., was flying solo during a long-duration mission involving multiple time zone crossings.
As the pilot was turning final for runway 36, a loud bang was heard and the aircraft's landing lights suddenly extinguished. Believing the engine had failed because the RPM indication disappeared (though ITT remained normal), the pilot retracted the flaps to improve the glide profile. This action increased the stall speed and caused a nose-up attitude, which obscured the pilot's view of the runway lights.
Lacking visual references in the darkness of a new moon, the aircraft struck the ground violently on the clearway approximately 250 meters before the runway threshold. The impact was severe enough to sever the tailwheel and cause the aircraft to bounce multiple times. During the subsequent sequence of impacts, the left main landing gear detached and was struck by the rotating propeller, causing the aircraft to skid and come to rest near the runway.