Date:	Saturday 17 December 2016
Time:	10:45
Type:	Rotorsport UK MTOSport
Owner/operator:	Private
Registration:	G-SIXG
MSN:	RSUK/MTOS/047
Year of manufacture:	2012
Engine model:	Rotax 912ULS
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Category:	Accident
Location:	Hope Farm, Branthwaite, Caldbeck Common, Cumbria -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Private
Departure airport:	Carlisle Lake District Airport (CAX/EGNC)
Destination airport:	Carlisle Lake District Airport (CAX/EGNC)
Investigating agency:	AAIB
Confidence Rating:	Accident investigation report completed and information captured

Narrative:
On 17 December 2016, the Rotorsport UK MTOSport gyrocopter G-SIXG was wrecked in a forced landing after a bird strike, followed by collision with overhead power lines. Both occupants (pilot and one passenger) were injured. According to a press release from the Great North Air Ambulance Service, who attended the incident:

"The Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS) was called to a gyrocopter crash at Caldbeck on Saturday. Emergency services, including GNAAS were called to the incident at around 10:55am. The GNAAS doctor-led trauma team treated a man, in his 50s, for a chest injury before he was flown to Carlisle’s Cumberland Infirmary in a stable condition. Another man was also taken to hospital by ambulance."

Additional information from a press release from Cumbria Fire & Rescue:

"At 10:57 fire engines from Aspatria, Wigton and two fire engines and the water bowser from Penrith attended an incident involving a light aircraft that had crashed into power lines in a field in the Branthwaite area of Caldbeck. Two people were released from the aircraft and both were taken to hospital via ambulance. Crews set up cordons around the incident and deployed a covering foam jet. Crews were at the scene for two hours.”

UPDATE: The official AAIB report into the accident was published on 9 June 2017, and the following is the summary from that report...

"G-SIXG was flying at approximately 2,000 feet amsl when it struck a bird, causing “violent shaking” of the airframe until the propeller blades detached. The pilot positioned the aircraft for a forced landing onto a field on a southerly heading. He saw power cables running along the side of the field but the low sun prevented him from seeing other power cables running across the field.

Just before the aircraft landed it struck one of the cables running across the field, which brought it to a halt and tipped it onto its side. The occupants exited the aircraft unaided although the passenger had minor injuries."

Nature of Damage sustained to airframe: Per the AAIB report "Substantial" damage.

1. AAIB: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/591c37a1ed915d20f8000024/Rotorsport_UK_MTOsport_G-SIXG_06-17.pdf
2. https://www.greatnorthairambulance.co.uk/news-and-events/article/two-hurt-after-gyrocopter-crash-at-caldbeck/
3. https://www.cumbriacrack.com/2016/12/17/two-hurt-cumbria-gyrocopter-crash/
4. http://www.cumbriafire.gov.uk/services/operations/recent-incidents.asp
5. https://forums.flyer.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=102572
6. https://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/16757309.two-rescued-after-gyrocopter-crashes-into-power-lines-in-north-cumbria/
7. https://www.yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk/aircraft/lakes/17dec16.html
8. https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101327204-branthwaite-farmhouse-and-adjoining-barns-and-byres-caldbeck

This Rotorsport UK MTOSport was built in 2012, and registered to its first owners as G-SIXG on September 10 2012. The aircraft changed owners on 30 April 2013, 12 August 2014, and on 27 August 2015 (while retaining the registration G-SIXG). After the accident near Branthwaite on 17 December 2016, the damage sustained to the airframe was presumably enough to render the airframe as "beyond economic repair", the registration G-SIXG was cancelled (and the airfame de-registered) by the CAA on 24 April 2017 as "Destroyed".

Two hurt in gyrocopter crash https://t.co/jVyL1nM8L8 pic.twitter.com/wEkaDPWrKY

— Great North Air Amb (@GNairambulance) December 19, 2016

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
19-Dec-2016 08:46	gerard57	Added
20-Dec-2016 12:00	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Embed code, Narrative]
20-Dec-2016 12:14	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Embed code, Narrative]
28-Dec-2016 20:04	Geno	Updated [Source]
29-Dec-2016 12:54	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Aircraft type, Registration, Operator, Source, Narrative]
10-Jun-2017 21:52	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Registration, Cn, Operator, Location, Source, Narrative]
10-Jun-2017 21:53	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
10-Jun-2017 21:54	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
07-Apr-2024 07:32	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, Category]
10-Apr-2024 14:16	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Category]