What happened
During a takeoff sequence, the aircraft initially attempted to depart but aborted the maneuver after experiencing lateral swerving. On the subsequent attempt, the aircraft became airborne approximately halfway down the runway. Shortly after liftoff, the aircraft rolled to the right, causing the right wing to impact the ground and resulting in a crash. There were 0 fatalities reported in the provided documentation.
Findings
Investigations into the accident identified several critical contributing factors. The rudder trim was set significantly to the nose-right position, between 7.9 and 8.3 units. Flight simulator recreations using this specific trim setting consistently produced right-wing ground strikes during takeoff.
Furthermore, the aircraft was operating with a severely depleted instrument suite. Due to the removal of a mechanical checklist and 50 of the 54 flight instruments, only two airspeed indicators, an altimeter, and a standby gyro horizon remained functional. Simulations involving 60 takeoff attempts in this specific configuration demonstrated that the crew lacked sufficient attitude references to detect the aircraft's roll before it reached a critical altitude.
Regulatory and oversight failures were also noted. The FAA's designated airworthiness representative (DAR) had inspected the aircraft and issued a ferry permit three days prior to the accident, despite lacking the necessary mechanical certification and experience with large-scale aircraft. Additionally, the pilot was found to be neither medically qualified nor current for the flight. The investigation highlighted a lack of specific FAA guidance regarding the oversight of DAR activities and the management of minimum equipment lists.