Magniflight M24 ORION N4777W

Summary

On 19 October 2024 at about 19:00 local time, a Magniflight M24 ORION registered N4777W was involved in an accident near Valmeyer, Illinois, United States. 2 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

19 October 2024 at 19:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Valmeyer, Illinois, United States

Nearest airport

Sullivan Field Airport (27LL)

Coordinates

38.3734, -90.3207

Aircraft

Magniflight M24 ORION

Registration

N4777W

Category

Gyrocraft

Year built

2020

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN25LA022

Nobody was injured.

The pilot’s loss of control due to flight control interference by the passenger during takeoff.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

Before the flight, the pilot gave a safety briefing to his passenger, and explained to the passenger to keep his feet off of the rudder pedals and to stay clear of the cyclic during takeoff. After the briefing and startup, the pilot took off in the gyroplane with his passenger for a local flight. The grass runway was bumpy, so the pilot lifted the front wheel off the ground as soon as possible and rode the main wheels until speed was built up enough to lift off. As all the wheels came off the ground, the gyrocopter started to drift to the right off of the runway. The pilot tried to correct with cyclic but was unable to move the cyclic. The gyroplane continued to move to the right and touched down in a field nose first and bounced. The gyroplane hit a concrete obstacle and sustained substantial damage to the fuselage and main rotor. The pilot believed that the passenger’s left leg interfered with the movement of the cyclic which resulted in the right drift after takeoff. The pilot reported that there were no mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operations.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.