- Date
- January 16, 2000, 13:00 local (19:00 UTC)
- Place
- Smyrna, TN
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Taxi
- Aircraft
- N6407CDana A. Moore Danamite
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report November 29, 2000
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 20000116000259A
- Case key
- 48501
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 excessive taxiing speed and failure to maintain adequate clearance from objects, resulting in the gyroplane's main rotor colliding with a fence and subsequent damage to the aircraft.
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 pilot stated that after completing the first flight in his recently constructed gyroplane that he was taxiing expeditiously back to the hangar and did not take into account the wet taxiway, or the tail wind. The pilot said that while taxiing the gyroplane the nose wheel did not turn as he would have liked, and the aircraft drifted close to a fence and the rotor made contact with the fence, destroying the aircraft. The FAA inspector who conducted a postcrash examination of the gyroplane, confirmed that the aircraft was destroyed as a result of the accident.
Factual narrative
On January 16, 2000, about 1300 central standard time, a Dana A. Moore Danamite, N6407C, registered to a private owner, and operated as a 14 CFR Part 91 personal flight, hit a fence during taxiing operations at Smyrna, Tennessee. Instrument meteorological conditions prevailed in the area, and no flight plan was filed. The gyroplane was destroyed, and the private-rated pilot was not injured. The flight originated the same day, about 1245.
The pilot stated that after completing the first flight in his recently constructed gyroplane that he was taxiing expeditiously back to the hangar and did not take into account the wet taxiway, or the tail wind. The pilot said that while taxiing the gyroplane, the nosewheel did not turn as he would have liked, and the aircraft drifted close to a fence and the rotor made contact with the fence, destroying the aircraft. The FAA inspector who conducted a postcrash examination of the gyroplane, confirmed that the aircraft was destroyed as a result of the accident.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N6407C
- Reported as
- Dana A. Moore Danamite
- Category
- Gyroplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 001
- Airframe hours
- 1
- Engine
- Northrop 43/8F/0-100-3, 90 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Dana A. Moore
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Departed
- MQY
- Airport
- MQY · Smyrna Airport
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
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 1,211 total · 1 in this make and model · 1,104 as pilot in command · 19 in the last 90 days · 4 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Wind
- 260° at 3 knots
- Visibility
- 6 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 600 ft broken
- Temperature
- 54 °F, dew point 52 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- MQY
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.