Duchess 76
Situational Awareness
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Ground Event / Encounter Ground Strike - Aircraft
Aircraft Aircraft Damaged
Human Factors; Aircraft
[We] started a flight training lesson with the intention to practice normal and short field take offs and landings.The student conducted a preflight inspection according to the checklist and to the best of his knowledge in order to determine the airworthiness of the aircraft; and so did I after he was done. After not finding any issues that could affect the safety of the flight; [I]; acting as PIC; decided to continue with the flight. Once done with the run up; we contacted ground control in order to receive taxi instructions. We proceeded to runway as instructed; and we stopped at the run up area of the runway in order execute the before takeoff checklist. That list includes a crew briefing on the actions to take in case of any malfunctions happen during the takeoff roll; lift off and in flight portions of the flight. Also; a briefing was done with the student before the flight; while on the ground.We proceeded to the hold short line and after receiving clearance from the local control; we entered the runway with the intention of taking off. Subsequently; after applying full power and checking that the engine instruments were showing normal parameters and we had positive airspeed indication; we felt a strong vibration that was apparently coming from the front of the airplane. Initially; my first thought was that the nose wheel was flat; so I raised the nose of the plane by pulling back on the yoke and simultaneously putting the throttles levers to the idle position. As the vibration stopped; I gently tried to bring the nose down to the runway; it kept going down more than it normally does; so I figured that either the nose gear detached from the main structure or collapsed. I confirmed this after I heard the sound of the front side of the fuselage frictioning with the surface of the runway. While the airplane was stopping on the runway; I set both mixtures to the idle position; put the fuel selectors to the off position and made sure that the electrical system was off.ATC contacted us and we explained the situation. We called the [FBO] to set a procedure to remove the airplane from the runway. After leaving the airplane; I found out that the nose gear was not there; it was located around 100 feet back and to the side of our position. Airport personnel arrived and both my student and I gave them a brief of the event; including our personal data. The same I did with air traffic control.Later; after locating the nose gear (wheel; piston and fork); other pieces were found; such as a nut and a bolt. Looking at the nose gear and the pieces found; apparently those pieces belong to the scissor link of the frontal landing gear that broke; explaining the vibration felt during the takeoff roll; indicating loss of steering capacity as well.During the preflight; I personally checked that the plane was in an airworthy condition to fly. I reviewed; as I always do; that the nuts and bolts were there; including the ones on the scissor link of the nose gear; located on an area where they can be easily inspected.Though I visually checked that all the bolts had lock pins on the gear; I did not physically check the scissor link for movement.
BE-76 instructor pilot reported the nose gear malfunctioned and departed the aircraft on the takeoff roll.