What happened
On 3 May 2017, a Beech 76 Duchess, registration G-TWNN, was engaged in a training flight at Wellsbourne Mountford Airfield in Warwickshire. The flight was being conducted to prepare a handling pilot for an MEP class rating and a single-pilot instrument rating renewal. The crew consisted of two people, with the handling pilot in the left seat and the commander in the right seat.
Prior to the accident, the crew had completed two successful two-engine approaches for touch-and-go landings in moderately turbulent conditions. During these initial circuits, the commander noted that the handling pilot was struggling with power management to maintain required speeds. The subsequent approach to Runway 36 was performed without flaps. Due to the handling pilot's continued difficulty with airspeed control, the commander's attention was heavily focused on monitoring the airspeed via the single airspeed indicator, which is positioned on the left side of the instrument panel and is difficult to view from the right seat.
As the aircraft entered the flare, the commander was providing verbal instruction to the trainee regarding touchdown technique. During this period of high workload and concentration on flight parameters, the landing gear was not lowered. The aircraft subsequently landed with the wheels up, skidding approximately 150 m along the runway and drifting left of the centerline before stopping. There were no injuries to the crew, though the aircraft sustained damage to its engines, propellers, and fuselage.
The investigation
Investigators examined the circumstances of the approach and the cockpit environment. The investigation established that the handling pilot's speed control was a primary focus during the final stages of the flight, necessitating active monitoring and verbal intervention from the commander. The investigation also noted that the aircraft's configuration for the final approach was flapless, which contributed to the heightened need for precise airspeed management.