- Date
- June 20, 1989, 13:41 local (20:41 UTC)
- Place
- The Dalles, OR
- Injuries
- 1 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N3196Hughes Bensen B-8M
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report June 26, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19890620016239A
- Case key
- 41034
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 pilots poor judgement in attempting low level flight in a narrow valley during high wind conditions.
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 was attempting to set a world record for flight from Canada to Mexico in the gyrocopter. The pilot had stopped at The Dalles, in the columbia river gorge, for fuel. After departing The Dalles, the pilot flew south along a highway that follows a valley extending from the gorge to higher terrain south of The Dalles. There are steep hills on both sides of the highway. The pilot was flying aprx 200 ft AGL making passes over a ground crew who were filming the flight, when the aircraft abruptly flipped into an inverted attitude and impacted on a hillside by the highway. A member of the ground crew filming the flight estimated on the tape before the accident that the winds were 40-50 mph.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N3196
- Reported as
- Hughes Bensen B-8M (BENSEN B-8)
- Category
- Gyroplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- HU 191713
- Engine
- Continental C-85-12, 85 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Michael G. Hughes
- Registered owner
- Michael G Hughes
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Departed
- DLS · The Dalles, OR
- Destination
- S33 · Madras, OR
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
- 65
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Center
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 910 total
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 300° at 20 knots, gusting 30
- Visibility
- 30 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 68 °F, dew point 39 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- DLS, 12 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.
Other investigations on N3196 · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.