- Date
- September 19, 2021, 11:00 local (03:00 UTC)
- Place
- Kingsland, TX
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N924WGMorgan Sport Copter Vortex
- Defining event
- Initial climb: Loss of control in flight
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- Parties
- Federal Aviation Administration
- FAA report
- 20210919015929A
- Case key
- 103951
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
The pilot’s diverted attention which resulted in an inadvertent descent and subsequent collision with a lake.
Findings · 3
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
The pilot reported that the gyroplane took off uneventfully. About 400 ft above the ground, the pilot’s hat started to blow off in the wind. Concerned his hat and headset would blow off into the pusher propeller, he adjusted his hat and headset to insure they were secure, but “lost focus on flying.” By the time he’d secured his hat and headset, the gyroplane was at too low of an altitude to recover from the descent. It impacted in a lake about ¼ mile from the departure end of the runway. The gyroplane’s main rotor assembly sustained substantial damage. The pilot reported there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the aircraft that would have precluded normal operations.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N924WG
- Reported as
- Morgan Sport Copter Vortex
- Category
- Gyroplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 048
- Built
- 2011
- Airframe hours
- 363
- Engine
- Rotax 582, 65 hp, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental light sport (Special)
- Last inspection
- Condition · December 15, 2019 · 16 hours before
- Airport
- 44TE · Shirley Williams Airport, runway 16, 2,600 × 100 ft, grass/turf
- Equipment
- Unknown
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
- 80
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Commercial, Sport Pilot
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Sport pilot, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- December 7, 2020
- Seat
- Center
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 3,084 total · 72 in this make and model · 22 in the last 90 days · 7 in the last 30 days · 0 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 88 °F, dew point 68 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.01 inHg
- Observed at
- KDZB, 9 nm away
- METAR
- KDZB 191555Z AUTO 00000KT 10SM CLR 31/20 A3001 RMK AO2 T03080202
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on January 5, 2022, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 7.4 MB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.