What happened
On a scheduled flight originating from Madras, India, an aircraft arrived at Ratmalana Airport in Ceylon. During the landing phase at approximately 1421 local time, the aircraft made contact with the runway roughly one-third of the way down its length. Immediately following touchdown, the plane swerved toward the left side of the runway. During this excursion, the landing gear was in the retracted position. The incident resulted in substantial damage to the airframe, though there were no injuries reported among the 36 passengers or the 6 crew members on board.
Findings
Investigations into the accident determined that the deviation from the runway was caused by unauthorized actions taken during the landing sequence. Specifically, the co-pilot interfered with the flight controls without direction from the captain. This interference included increasing the throttle and initiating the retraction of the undercarriage at a critical moment immediately after the wheels had touched the ground.