- Date
- March 20, 2025, 13:02 local (20:02 UTC)
- Place
- Murrieta, CA · short final for F70
- Injuries
- 1 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N157PRotorsport UK Cavalon
- Defining event
- Approach-VFR pattern final: Aerodynamic stall/spin
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Western Pacific Region
- Parties
- Federal Aviation Administration
- FAA report
- 20250320002489A
- Case key
- 199898
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 student pilot’s failure to maintain adequate airspeed during an approach and subsequent descent into terrain. Contributing to the accident was the student pilot’s failure to perform a go-around maneuver.
Findings · 4
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 student pilot reported that she was on a solo cross-country flight and had entered the airport traffic pattern. While on the base leg, she slowed the gyroplane to follow an airplane that was established on final approach. She then turned final after the airplane had landed, however, the airplane did not exit the runway as she had anticipated. She slowed the gyroplane further and allowed a “slow vertical descent” for additional spacing from the airplane. The pilot then noticed that she had allowed the airspeed and altitude to decay. She attempted to recover by applying full throttle, however, the gyroplane turned right into a grass area and impacted terrain about 250 ft from the approach end of the runway. The rotor blades, fuselage, keel, and rudder were substantially damaged. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N157P
- Reported as
- Rotorsport UK Cavalon
- Category
- Gyroplane
- Serial number
- RSUK-V00548
- Built
- 2023
- Airframe hours
- 123
- Engine
- Rotax 915 IS, 135 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · March 19, 2025 · 3.5 hours before
- Departed
- KCNO · Chino, CA
- Destination
- F70 · Murrieta, CA
- Airport
- F70 · French Valley Airport, runway 19/36, 6,000 × 75 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Auto-pilot, Electronic multifunction display, ADS-B, Electronic primary flight display
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
- 55
- Injuries
- Minor
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Right
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 58 total · 47 in this make and model · 4 as pilot in command · 36 in the last 90 days · 26 in the last 30 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 210° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 70 °F, dew point 30 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.10 inHg
- Observed at
- KHMT, 10 nm away
- METAR
- KHMT 201955Z AUTO 21005KT 10SM CLR 21/M01 A3010
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on May 29, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 6.0 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.