N853ND

On June 14, 1996, at 1830 central daylight time, a Piper PA-44, N853ND, operated by the University of North Dakota (UND), Grand Forks, North Dakota, was substantially damaged during a hard landing. The flight instructor was demonstrating a rejected takeoff and had initiated the maneuver from 150 feet above the runway. The flight instructor and student were not injured. The 14 CFR Part 91 flight had departed runway 17R at Grand Forks Mark Andrews International Airport on a local instructional flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident and no flight plan was filed.

The instructor reported that he was attempting to demonstrate a rejected takeoff. However, instead of initiating the maneuver during the takeoff roll and aborting the takeoff on the runway, the instructor initiated the maneuver while on the final approach to the runway. The instructor reported that he made an approach to runway 17R with the airplane descending to about 150 feet AGL at 75 to 80 KIAS. The airplane was configured with the landing gear down and zero degrees flaps. About 100 yards from the runway threshold, he applied power and raised the nose. He reported that as the airplane crossed the threshold, he reduced power on both engines to idle and applied forward elevator establishing a descent for landing. The instructor pilot reported that he started to "round the airplane out about 30 to 50 feet above the runway." The descent rate was too high, so he continued to increase the pitch. He reported that the stall horn sounded "only milliseconds" before the airplane impacted the runway. The airplane started skidding down the runway and the pilots shut off the engines. The pilots evacuated the airplane after it came to a stop and the airplane had been secured.

The instructor reported the demonstration he performed of a rejected takeoff was not a recognized or an approved maneuver. He reported that the he had never had this maneuver demonstrated to him. Additionally, this was the first time that he had attempted to demonstrate the maneuver.