What happened
A twin-engine aircraft was conducting a local training session at Melbourne Essendon Airport with three people on board: an instructor, a student pilot, and a passenger. During the climb phase, approximately 200 to 250 feet above the ground after departing runway 26, the student pilot retracted the wing flaps. Simultaneously, the instructor simulated an engine failure by adjusting the mixture control, intended to mimic a loss of power in the starboard engine. As part of this training exercise, the student identified the simulated failure and demonstrated the necessary emergency procedures.
During this maneuver, the aircraft entered a nose-down pitch. Despite the engines operating at full power, the plane descended in a straight path, passing under electrical cables near the airport perimeter at an altitude of only 4.15 meters. The aircraft eventually struck houses located 286 meters past the western edge of the runway. The impact resulted in three serious injuries to those on board and caused the deaths of six people on the ground, with one additional person on the ground sustaining injuries.
Findings
Investigators determined that the aircraft became severely out of trim at an altitude too low to allow for corrective action. While a malfunction in the trim system was considered a possibility, the investigation concluded that the unintentional activation of the command trim switch was the most likely cause of the loss of control.