Crash of a Piper PA-31-350 Navajo Chieftain in Lakeland: 2 killed

The flight was conducting single-engine flight tests with the inboard gear doors removed and was being photographed by a chase aircraft. At the end of the tests the pilot was unable to restart the left engine and returned for a single-engine landing. The pilot overshot the landing attempt and executed a single-engine go-around. The pilot then reported he had a gear problem. An occupant of the chase aircraft reported that the main gear were hanging 75 to 80 degrees from the horizontal. A company employee at the airport reported that the nose gear was about 10° aft of the normal down and locked position. The aircraft continued on a wsw heading away from the airport, passing over several suitable emergency landing sites while in a slow descent until colliding with the guy/grounding wire atop a powerline pole located 4 miles wsw of the arpt. The aircraft was destroyed and both occupants were killed.