Lawrence

The airline's chief pilot was giving a newly-hired pilot a required competency/proficiency check. Memory data from the airplane's global positioning system showed the airplane made
steep 360-degree turns to the left and right before continuing towards a practice area at gradually decreasing airspeed and altitude. A low cloud ceiling prevailed. Witnesses said they
heard both engines "sputter, then quit," and saw the airplane clear a grove of trees, stall, and strike the ground. The landing gear was down and the flaps were in the approach setting. Both propellers were in the low pitch/high rpm setting, and bore little rotational signatures. Both engine fuel supply lines contained only residual fuel. Those familiar with the chief pilot's flying practices stated that he always followed a certain routine when giving a check ride. The routine consisted of the following: After performing steep 360-degree turns, he would ask the trainee to configure the airplane for landing and demonstrate minimum control maneuvers. Prior to executing steep turns, he would turn the boost pumps on. At the completion of the maneuver, the pumps would be turned off. The investigation revealed that there are unguarded fuel shutoff switches next to the boost pumps, and the circumstances of the accident are consistent with the these fuel shutoff switches being inadvertently placed in the off position, instead of the fuel boost pumps.

The pilot said that the copilot was flying a visual approach to runway 15 at the Lawrence Municipal Airport, Lawrence, Kansas. The pilot said, "With gear down and full flaps at approximately 15 to 20 feet above the runway and 115 KTS, the nose abruptly dropped and there was no elevator effectiveness with the yoke pulled back to the mechanical stop." The pilot said, "After landing, I noticed that the stabilizer trim indicated full nose down in the cockpit and, upon exterior inspection, the stab was in that position." The copilot said, "I made my turn to base and proceeded to make my turn to final. No problems with the controllability were noted at this time. The turn to final was made and the airplane was lined up with the runway on final approach with normal glide path. My altitude was dropping normally and my airspeed was approximately 140 knots." The copilot said, "When it got time to pull the power back to idle for landing our airspeed was approximately 110 knots and power was reduced. At that point in time the nose of the aircraft seemed to pitch over towards the runway and increase speed. I pulled back on the yoke to raise the nose and at that same instance the pilot recognized the pitch over and pulled back on the yoke at the same time. The yoke did not seem to pull all of the way to its full extent of travel and felt to mechanically stop at about 3/4 the way travel. Even with both pilot's pulling on the yoke it seemed unresponsive and failed to raise the nose back to a proper landing attitude. The aircraft hit the runway very hard and came to a stop on the runway." A preliminary inspection of the airplane showed the stabilizer positioned at 4 degrees nose down. An examination of the airplane's systems revealed no anomalies.

The crew of the PA-31T Cheyenne had made one missed approach and the copilot was calling out the altitudes to the pilot. The pilot's reply to the copilot that he was just going to descend to 400 feet. The approach minimums were published for an MDA of 660 feet plus 80 feet when the control zone is not in effect. The aircraft flew into rising terrain. The copilot suffered minor injuries, the aircraft was destroyed due to impact and fire.