- Date
- February 4, 2015, 14:00 local (19:00 UTC)
- Place
- Crozet, VA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Aircraft
- N595XAutogyro Calidus
- Defining event
- Takeoff: Loss of control on ground
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report August 11, 2015
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA / FSDO
- FAA report
- 20150204001919A
- Case key
- 90693
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 improper control inputs which resulted in a loss of control and rollover during the takeoff roll.
Findings · 2
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
After departing from the airport where the pilot kept the gyroplane, he flew to his family farm and landed without incident on a 1,500-foot-long grass polo field. Later on, during an attempted takeoff from the same field, when the gyroplane was traveling at 25 to 30 knots and was about 150 feet into the takeoff roll, the gyroplane rose to a balanced position on its main wheels, but then began to bounce up and down violently. The pilot then lost control of the gyroplane and it rolled over on its left side about 300 feet into the takeoff roll. The pilot advised that there was nothing mechanically wrong with the gyroplane. He further advised that it was "pilot error" and that he had "over advanced" the blades by pushing the control stick too far forward and that the blades were not yet at speed (too low a rotor rpm) when he did it. The pilot was not injured, but the gyroplane incurred damage to the rotor blades, the pusher propeller, the horizontal stabilizer, the vertical stabilizer, the rudder, the engine cowling, and the wheel pants.
Factual narrative
After departing from the airport where the pilot kept the gyroplane, he flew to his family farm and landed without incident on a 1,500-foot-long grass polo field. Later on, during an attempted takeoff from the same field, when the gyroplane was traveling at 25 to 30 knots and was about 150 feet into the takeoff roll, the gyroplane rose to a balanced position on its main wheels, but then began to bounce up and down violently. The pilot then lost control of the gyroplane and it rolled over on its' left side about 300 feet into the takeoff roll. The pilot advised that there was nothing mechanically wrong with the gyroplane. He further advised that it was "pilot error" and that he had "over advanced" the blades by pushing the control stick too far forward and that the blades were not yet at speed (too low a rotor rpm) when he did it. The pilot was not injured, but the gyroplane incurred damage to the rotor blades, the pusher propeller, the horizontal stabilizer, the vertical stabilizer, the rudder, the engine cowling, and the wheel pants.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N595X
- Reported as
- Autogyro Calidus
- Category
- Gyroplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- C00350
- Built
- 2014
- Airframe hours
- 22
- Engine
- Rotax 914UL, 115 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Condition · December 16, 2014
- Departed
- PVT · Crozet, VA
- Destination
- W13 · Waynesboro, VA
- Airport
- PVT · Polo Field, runway None, 1,500 × 450 ft, grass/turf
- Equipment
- Handheld GPS
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 60
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- October 17, 2013
- Seat
- Front
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 713 total · 27 in this make and model · 495 as pilot in command
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Variable at 6 knots, gusting 18
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 55 °F, dew point 21 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.04 inHg
- Observed at
- CHO, 12 nm away
Docket · 6
The files NTSB released with the investigation on July 28, 2015, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 2.4 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.