A DHC-8-402Q operated by Luxair was involved in an aborted takeoff accident at Saarbrcken-Ensheim Airport (SCN), Germany. Luxair LG9562 was a scheduled passenger service from Hamburg Airport, Germany to Saarbrcken and Luxembourg. Following an intermediate stop at Saarbrcken the aircraft was cleared for takeoff on runway 09. During the rotation phase with approximately 127 KIAS and a nose-up attitude of approximately 5ø, the landing gear retracted. The airplane’s tail had the first ground contact and the tailstrike warning light illuminated. Approximately 875 m after the initial ground contact the airplane came to a stop after it had bounced three times and skidded on the fuselage. It appeared the first officer retracted the gear too early. It was determined that the DHC-8 landing gear will retract if the nose landing gear is airborne but the main landing gears are still on the ground. This design logic was changed after this accident. Conclusions: The air accident was the result of an early retraction of the retractable landing gearduring take-off, which was not prevented by the landing gear selector lever and the retracting control logic. Contributory factors: – Reduced concentration level – A break in the callout process / task sequence on the part of the PNF – Actuation of the landing gear lever to the UP Position too early – Control logic design allows retraction of the landing gear with one wheel airborne