Accident Overview
On a charter flight from Indianapolis to Nashville with an intermediate stop at Evansville Regional Airport, an aircraft carrying members of the University of Evansville basketball team and associated personnel crashed shortly after takeoff. The flight had departed from runway 18 in marginal weather conditions, with mist and light rain present at the time.
Sequence of Events
After rotation, the pilot-in-command initiated a left turn. The aircraft then struck two trees located east of the airfield. Subsequently, the aircraft rolled to the right and crashed approximately one mile southeast of the runway 18 threshold. The impact resulted in the total destruction of the aircraft, and all 29 occupants were killed.
Probable Cause
According to the official investigation, the probable cause of the accident was an attempted takeoff with the rudder and right aileron control locks installed, combined with a rearward center of gravity. This configuration caused the aircraft to rotate to a nose-high attitude immediately after takeoff, entering the region of reversed command from which the pilot was unable to recover.
Contributing Factor
A contributing factor was the flight crew's failure to ensure that passenger baggage was loaded in accordance with the configuration contained on the load manifest. This oversight resulted in a rearward center of gravity that was aft of the optimum range but still forward of the rearmost limit.