Medium Transport; High Wing; 2 Turboprop Eng
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Multiengine
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 250; Flight Crew Total 4200; Flight Crew Type 200
Situational Awareness; Training / Qualification
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Flight Crew Diverted; Flight Crew Landed As Precaution
Aircraft; Human Factors
I was flying as the first officer of Aircraft X being used on contract by the US Military to conduct parachute operations inside of Restricted airspace. We had 14 military free fall jumpers on board and were taking off from a 3;000 feet unimproved landing strip. We had full inboard fuel tanks. Upon rotation; we experienced a power-plant failure of the left engine at approximately 200 feet.  We performed emergency action procedures for a power-plant failure after V1 and attempted to climb to a safe altitude to release jumpers. The aircraft would not climb above 1;000 feet AGL so we diverted to the closest airstrip; ZZZ; which has a 3;200 feet paved runway and was three miles away.  Upon landing; braking action was extremely poor and it was extremely difficult to maintain directional control. On taxi back; we experienced a right brake fire that was most likely caused by a leaking hydraulic line dripping fluid onto hot brakes. Passengers were evacuated on the ramp and fire was extinguished with on site fire fighting equipment by myself and the captain. The most likely cause of the engine failure was a Flight Control Unit (FCU) failure and the brake fire because of heavy braking with poorly maintained brakes and a shorter than desired runway available. In a post event debrief; the captain and I reworked the numbers on our useful load for conditions and determined that we had not added enough safety factor into our runway analysis. If we had properly accounted for density altitudes and current conditions; the aircraft would have had better single engine performance and we could have diverted to a longer and more appropriate runway for the situation. There were no injuries to any personnel. We did not declare an emergency during the event because of the the speed at which events happened and the attention needed to safely fly the airplane to landing.
Twin engine; high wing turboprop First Officer reported losing an engine shortly after takeoff. Flight diverted to a nearby airfield where a safe landing was made.