Following the fitment of shock absorbers to the landing gear system, the owner arranged for the designer of the aircraft to carry out a test flight. At the completion of the test flight, when the aircraft was at about 100 feet agl on the downwind leg of the circuit, the pilot heard a loud bang. He closed the throttle and landed the aircraft. The aircraft overran the strip and the nose gear failed when it contacted rough ground. Examination of the aircraft revealed that one blade of the propeller had failed in tension overload due to overspeeding. The overspeeding was caused by the inadequate pitch of the propeller blade for the type of engine used to power the aircraft.
