History of the Flight
The aircraft, a Beech 76 Duchess, was on an instrument rating training flight. The student pilot occupied the left seat, the instructor the right seat, and another student monitored from the rear. After several instrument approaches and go-arounds, the student executed an asymmetric approach and go-around, followed by a visual circuit to land.
During the visual circuit, the landing gear was not extended, and the flaps were set to no more than 15 degrees. The operator had not defined formal Standard Operating Procedures, but students were instructed to select full flap below the asymmetric committal height.
Landing and Post-Event
The flare produced a prolonged float, and the aircraft contacted the ground on its underside about 800 metres beyond the runway threshold. The instructor later noted that the float likely resulted from the absence of drag from the retracted landing gear. The aircraft slid to a stop; all three occupants exited without issue, and no fire occurred.
Damage and Injuries
Both propeller blades were bent, the engines were shock-loaded, and the underside of the airframe was damaged. The aircraft was declared beyond economic repair. No injuries were reported among the crew of two and the single passenger.
Contributing Factors
The instructor attributed the accident to "instructor error" and cited contributory factors including the student's attentiveness during earlier approaches and the fact that this was the final landing of the last flight of the day. A discussion about asymmetrical committal height during the circuit may have distracted the crew. The instructor also reported that the landing gear warning horn did not activate.
The Beech Duchess landing gear warning horn sounds intermittently when a throttle is reduced below an engine setting that would sustain level flight with the gear retracted, or when flaps exceed 16 degrees without the landing gear extended. The instructor stated that deploying full flap would likely have triggered the warning horn, alerting the crew to the configuration error.