Date:	Monday 15 September 1969
Time:	18:30 LT
Type:	Bensen B8M
Owner/operator:	Neil Dorien Hamilton-Meikle (regd. owner)
Registration:	G-AWBO
MSN:	19
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Category:	Accident
Location:	1/2 mile East of Mount Karrin, Ballaugh, Isle of Man -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Initial climb
Nature:	Private
Departure airport:	Ballaugh, Isle of Man
Destination airport:	Jurby, Isle of Man
Investigating agency:	AIB
Confidence Rating:	Accident investigation report completed and information captured

Narrative:
Bensen B.8M G-AWBO: Written off (damaged beyond repair) 15/9/1969 when crashed half-a-mile east of Mount Karrin, Ballaugh, Isle of Man. The pilot was killed. According to the following summary from the official AAIB report into the accident:

"The aircraft was seen and heard making alterations in heading whilst flying near to the village of Ballaugh, about three-and-a-half miles south of Jurby. Half an hour after take off, when the aircraft was flying in good weather, between 1,000 and 1,500 feet, it went out of control following a rapid and uncontrollable rearward tilt of the rotor disc. The rotor blades came into contact with the fin and tail of the aircraft, and one rotor blade became detached. The wreckage fell to the ground and the pilot was killed.

The aircraft was originally built as a gyroglider in 1967 mainly with UK materials and using approved drawings. Although of the same area as the Bensen design, the fin on G-AWBO was a different shape, which reduced the clearance from the rotor tip. The gyroglider was considered well constructed and performed satisfactorily. A l,600cc VW engine, smaller but heavier than the recommended engine, was then fitted and a series of modifications followed, which the report describes in detail. Many of these centred on the rotor head. The aircraft had been flown under power for 62 hours 30 minutes prior to the accident.

A detailed analysis of the damage, accompanied by pictures of the rotor head taken before and after the accident, notes that the rotor blades had been nearly straight when striking the tail and had tilted relative to the tail unit, at a rate of about 30 degrees per second. The AAIB report says that there was no evidence as to an origin of the considerable force to which the rotor disc must have been subjected, but judges it to have been aerodynamic."

The wreckage was located near the peak of the 878-foot (268 metre) high Mount Karrin, and the wreckage trail indicated that it has impacted the ground from an altitude of approximately 400 feet agl. Registration G-AWBO cancelled by the CAA on 4/11/1969 as "destroyed"

1. AAIB: https://assets.digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk/media/5422f7a440f0b61342000601/6-1972_G-AWBO.pdf
2. CAA: https://siteapps.caa.co.uk/ginfodocs/HistoricalLedger/G-AWBO.pdf
3. Flight International 23 March 1972: https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1972/1972%20-%200638.html
4. Yorkshire Air News February 1970: http://www.yorkshireairnews.co.uk/images/1970%2002.PDF
5. https://peakery.com:443/mount-karrin-isle-of-man/
6. National Archives (PRP Kew) File AVIA 101/666: (Inspector's record of investigation) - https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C5070676
7. National Archives (PRP Kew) File AVIA 101/667: (Witness Statements) - https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C5070677
8. National Archives (PRP Kew) File AVIA 101/668: (Photographs) - https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C5070678 .

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
10-Aug-2015 02:17	Dr. John Smith	Added
10-Aug-2015 02:29	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
10-Aug-2015 02:30	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
17-Oct-2015 17:27	Dr.John Smith	Updated [Aircraft type, Source]
17-Oct-2015 17:29	Dr.John Smith	Updated [Source]
17-Oct-2015 17:34	Dr.John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
17-Oct-2015 17:36	Dr.John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
30-Sep-2020 19:13	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator, Location, Source, Narrative, Accident report]
28-Nov-2020 00:12	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative, Accident report]