What happened
During the landing sequence, the aircraft's nose gear assembly made contact with the runway surface. This impact caused the nose gear fork or strut to bend rearwards underneath the airframe. As a result of this structural deformation, the aircraft became inverted.
The investigation
The ATSB examined the damage to the aircraft's landing gear to determine the mechanics of the failure. The investigation found that no fractures occurred within the major structural components, such as the nose gear strut or fork. Instead, the components underwent significant deformation.
For the gear to have bent underneath the aircraft, the ground clearance must have been reduced to a point where the nose gear strut or fork struck the runway. This contact imparted substantial forces onto the gear assembly, initiating the damage sequence. While several variables influence ground clearance—including tyre pressure, engine weight, runway conditions, and landing dynamics—the specific mechanism that caused the reduction in clearance in this instance was not determined.