- Date
- May 30, 2001, 08:00 local (14:00 UTC)
- Place
- Gardiner, MT
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Aircraft
- N2361SHerriford RAF 2000
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report July 30, 2001
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Parties
- Helena FSDO
- FAA report
- 20010530011819A
- Case key
- 52390
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 failure to rotate the aircraft until he was well past the normal takeoff rotation speed, and his abrupt rotation at this higher speed.
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
During the takeoff roll, the pilot failed to rotate the gyrocopter until he was well past the normal takeoff rotation speed. When he did rotate, he did so abruptly, causing the rotor blades to stall. The blades then flapped downwards, impacting the terrain and cutting the tail off the aircraft.
Factual narrative
On May 30, 2001, approximately 0800 mountain daylight time, an experimental Herriford RAF 2000 gyrocopter, N2361S, collided with the terrain during an attempted takeoff at Gardiner Airport, Gardiner, Montana. The private pilot, who was the sole occupant, was not injured, but the aircraft, which was owned and operated by the pilot, sustained substantial damage. The local 14 CFR Part 91 recreational flight was taking place in visual meteorological conditions. No flight plan had been filed.
According to the pilot, he inadvertently allowed the gyrocopter to remain on the ground too long during the takeoff roll by applying excessive forward cyclic. Because it was accelerating, the aircraft reached a speed greater than that at which it should have lifted off. When the pilot realized the aircraft's speed was such that it should have already lifted off, he rotated too rapidly, stalling the main rotor blades. The blades immediately flexed downwards, impacting the ground and severing the aircraft's tail.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N2361S
- Reported as
- Herriford RAF 2000
- Category
- Gyroplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- H2-98-9-395
- Airframe hours
- 72
- Engine
- Subaru EV-22, 130 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Richard R. Herriford
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · May 29, 2001 · 1 hours before
- Departed
- 29S · Gardiner, MT
- Airport
- 29S · Gardiner Airport, runway 01, 3,300 × 75 ft, 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
- 61
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 1,200 total · 42 in this make and model · 1,050 as pilot in command · 41 in the last 90 days · 27 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 10° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 50 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.