Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Bandon State Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Bandon, Oregon 97411
Tuesady, July 22, 1997 8:47 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot reported that after takeoff the gyroplane pitched nose down and crashed onto the runway. He reported to the gyroplane kit manufacturer that the event occurred at an altitude of 25 to 30 feet, and that just before the occurrence he noted rotor RPM at 260 and airspeed at 40 knots. The aircraft flight manual gives normal operating range of rotor RPM as 275 to 310 RPM, and states that rotor RPM less than 270 must be avoided while flying. The pilot indicated on his accident report that no mechanical malfunction or failure was involved. The pilot held an airline transport pilot certificate with airplane single-engine land and airplane multi-engine land ratings; he did not hold a rotorcraft-gyroplane rating but did possess a gyroplane solo logbook endorsement dated about 6 months before the accident. The pilot reported his total flight time as 18,000 hours, with 50 hours of gyroplane flight time.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to maintain sufficient rotor RPM. A factor was the pilot's limited flight experience in gyroplanes.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/22/1997 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 847 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | BANDON |
| Event State | OREGON |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 97411 |
| Event Date Year | 1997 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | BANDON STATE |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | S05 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 114 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 850 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 2 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | OTH |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 14 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 21 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 1000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 19 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 13 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 0 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Variable |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 3 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Minor |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 1 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1414 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 22 1997 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 913 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 8 2000 12:26PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N6281Y |
| NTSB Number | SEA97LA176 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Garner |
| Aircraft Model | RAF 2000 GTX-SE |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | RAF 2000 G |
| Aircraft Serial Number | H2-96-7-228 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1530 |
| Aircraft Category | Gyrocraft |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | Yes |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Apr 1 1997 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 70 |
| Airframe Hours | 70 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | MICHAEL M. GARNER |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1832 22ND ST. |
| Aircraft Owner City | MYRTLE POINT |
| Aircraft Owner State | OR |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 97458 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | |
| Operator City | |
| Operator State | |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | |
| Operator Code | |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | Unknown |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | S05 |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 846 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | |
| Destination City | UNKNOWN |
| Destination State | |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Takeoff |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 2 2001 10:34AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 34 |
| Runway Length | 3600 |
| Runway Width | 60 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |