- Date
- July 9, 1983, 13:30 local (18:30 UTC)
- Place
- Somerville, TN
- Injuries
- 1 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Aircraft
- N47BHBensen B8M
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19830709029749A
- Case key
- 6119
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
The acft crashed during takeoff while on a pleasure flight. A witness stated that he saw the acft take off and climb outat a gradual climb to about 100 ft and then start a gradual descent to about 30 ft. at which time the acft nosed over and went almost vertically into the ground. The carburetor air filter came off and struck the prop causing severe vibration. The prop then struck the pilot and the acft plummeted to the ground.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N47BH
- Reported as
- Bensen B8M
- Category
- Gyroplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- B001
- Airframe hours
- 100
- Engine
- McCulloch 1, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- William S. Westrich
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · April 4, 1982 · 100 hours before
- Airport
- 57M · Fayette County, runway 18, asphalt
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 52
- Certificate
- Student
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Unknown
- Seat
- Center
- Flight hours
- 2 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 20 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 93 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.