ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 39175
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| Date: | Tuesday 9 June 1998 |
| Time: | 06:45 LT |
| Type: | Stephens VORTEX |
| Owner/operator: | Howard J. Stephens |
| Registration: | N9261N |
| MSN: | 001 |
| Engine model: | Rotax 582 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Chinook, MT -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Private |
| Departure airport: | (S71) |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
The private pilot, who was the builder of the gyroplane, had logged about 21 hours of flight time in gyroplanes, but did not have a gyroplane rating. A witness observed the gyroplane's departure and climb-out from the airport. When the gyroplane was approximately 400-500 feet AGL, the witness observed the nose pitch down slightly, then rapidly upward about 40 degrees, then down rapidly about 40 degrees below horizontal then back up as before. The witness said the gyroplane then seemed to fall nearly vertically downward to the ground, and speculated that there was some sort of catastrophic failure to the aircraft. FAA inspectors, however, found no evidence of inflight breakup, or a main rotor blade strike of the empennage.
Probable Cause: The pilot's failure to maintain aircraft control for an undetermined reason.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
NTSB SEA98LA091
Location
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 24-Oct-2008 10:30 | ASN archive | Added |
| 21-Dec-2016 19:23 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Time, Damage, Category, Investigating agency] |
| 07-Apr-2024 11:02 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Time, Operator, Other fatalities, Source, Narrative, Category, Accident report] |
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