What happened
On 5 February 2001, a Beech 76, registration G-BGHP, was conducting a training flight at Exeter Airport. During the flight, a student pilot was operating the aircraft from the left seat under the supervision of an instructor. The flight plan involved performing touch-and-go landings, with a specific briefing established: following touchdown, the instructor would retract the flaps and then instruct the student to increase power to take-off levels.
During the first circuit, the student completed a successful landing. Following the established procedure, the instructor raised the flaps and issued the command to advance the throttles. However, rather than increasing engine power, the student moved the gear lever to the 'up' position. This action caused the nose gear to retract while the aircraft was still on the runway, leading to the aircraft coming to a rest on the ground. The engines sustained shock loading, and the propellers and the underside of the forward fuselage were damaged. No injuries were reported among the two crew members.
The investigation
Investigators examined the cockpit configuration and the sequence of events leading to the gear retraction. It was noted that the gear lever is positioned to the left of the throttle quadrant, while the flap lever is located to the right. The investigation focused on the student's experience level and the potential for error during high-workload phases of flight. The student was an experienced single-engine instructor but was performing her first operating flight on a multi-engine aircraft and lacked experience with retractable landing gear systems.