Csp Leasing CAVALON N477AG

Summary

On 28 May 2020 at about 21:10 local time, a Csp Leasing CAVALON registered N477AG was involved in an accident near Roseburg, Oregon, United States. One person was on board and one died. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

28 May 2020 at 21:10

Classification

Accident

Location

Roseburg, Oregon, United States

Coordinates

43.1172, -123.3103

Aircraft

Csp Leasing CAVALON

Registration

N477AG

Category

Gyrocraft

Year built

2015

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Myrtle Creek → Shelton

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

WPR20LA155

1 person died.

A substantially unweighted rotor system for reasons that could not be determined, which resulted in contact between the main rotor blade and the gyrocopter’s keel tube and a loss of control and impact with terrain.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot departed an airport on a cross country flight and had flown about 7 miles before witnesses observed the aircraft flying between 1,000 ft to 2,000 ft above ground level (agl), at which time they also heard the engine make an unusual noise as if something had come off the aircraft. They subsequently observed the gyrocopter enter an uncontrolled descent and impact terrain.  One of the witnesses observed parts coming off the gyrocopter, which he believed was either the engine or the transmission coming apart.  He also observed the “tail boom” break off, swing forward, and crash into the passenger side of the cockpit, which sent it into an uncontrollable spin and subsequent impact with terrain at about a 45° nose-down attitude.    A postaccident examination of the gyrocopter revealed that the keel tube had signature strike marks consistent with a main rotor blade impact. This physical evidence was indicative of a substantially unweighted rotor system. This would have occurred while the aircraft was nosed over for a long period of time, at which time the rotor likely lost its directional orientation and spun out of axis and struck the keel tube. However, the duration of any nose over made by the gyrocopter during the accident flight could not be determined due to a lack of available evidence. The parts that departed the gyrocopter inflight were not identified during the investigation. 

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.