What happened
During a scheduled training flight operating out of Charlotte-Douglas International Airport, an aircraft entered a stall and crashed shortly after departing the runway. The incident occurred while the crew was performing a local training maneuver in the initial climb phase. During this ascent, the instructor pilot adjusted the mixture control on the right engine, which led to a loss of performance. As the aircraft struggled to maintain sufficient altitude, it reached a critical state and impacted the ground near the airport perimeter.
Findings
The investigation into the accident identified several contributing elements related to flight management and crew actions. The primary cause was determined to be an aerodynamic stall during the climb phase, which resulted from poor judgment by the crew. Specific findings included:
- Failure to adhere to established flight procedures
- Ineffective supervision of the flight operations
- Improper use or failure to deploy flaps correctly, leaving them in the down position
- An inability to maintain the necessary airspeed for safe flight
- Distraction caused by the crew focusing on attempting an engine restart
- Diversion of attention away from essential aircraft control tasks