What happened
The incident occurred during a local training exercise involving a brand new aircraft delivered to KLM on April 22 of the previous year. The crew had completed several touch-and-go maneuvers without issue before the instructor initiated a takeoff procedure with engine number one voluntarily inoperative. On runway 23, the crew advanced power on all four engines and began the rotation sequence.
As the aircraft reached 137 km/h, the captain initiated rotation, lifting the nose wheel off the ground. At 169 km/h, while still on the surface, the instructor reduced power on engine number one by pulling the lever back. The aircraft began to deviate from the runway centerline to the left. The captain attempted to counteract this drift using rudder inputs just as the right main gear lifted off the ground.
Facing obstacles ahead, the instructor decided to restore power to engine number one. This action caused the engine to overspeed. Consequently, the left wing dropped and struck a rocky wall. The impact caused the aircraft to stall, resulting in a crash into a nearby ditch. All five crew members were injured in the accident, and the airframe was destroyed.
Findings
The official investigation suggested that the accident may have been triggered by a fault in the time position of the screw system on engine number one, which could have resulted in an incorrect blade angle. However, investigators noted that this hypothesis could not be demonstrated conclusively. Additionally, the report highlighted that the crew's reaction to the aircraft deviating from its path and the subsequent rudder correction took approximately 3.5 seconds. This delay contributed to the aircraft becoming out of control before the crash.