Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Tooele South Army Depot Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Tooele, Utah 84074
Wednesday, October 15, 1997 14:16 MDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
According to the pilot, he was taking off for one of a series of flight tests. He reported that shortly after liftoff, the gyroplane made an uncommanded roll to the right. The pilot said that he applied full left cyclic and full left rudder, but the main rotor system struck the ground. The main rotor blades separated from the gyroplane and the aircraft came to rest with the fuselage twisted. Postcrash examination of the gyroplane by the design/manufacturing team revealed that the control system design of this aircraft had an inherent lag in time between control input and aircraft response. They found the runway that the gyroplane was taking off from slopped 1.7 to 1.8 degrees to the left. They said that 'the moment the aircraft left the ground, gravity moved the fuselage to the left and the rotor disk to the right.' Subsequently, a right turn was initiated and ground contact was made by the main rotor disk before the pilot's correction inputs could take effect.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to maintain aircraft control. Contributing was the inadequate design of the flight control systems, resulting in slow response to pilot input.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/15/1997 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1416 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Daylight Time |
| Event City | TOOELE |
| Event State | UTAH |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 84074 |
| Event Date Year | 1997 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | TOOELE SOUTH ARMY DEPOT |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | T62 |
| 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 | 5000 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Full |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1452 Mountain Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 45 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | SLC |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 4227 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 23 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 25000 |
| 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) | 15 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 17 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 3 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 300 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 8 |
| 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 | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1649 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | 0 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 8 2000 12:37PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N4412X |
| NTSB Number | FTW98LA015 |
| 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 | SEGO TOOL |
| Aircraft Model | HAWK H2X |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | HAWK H2X |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 201X |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2600 |
| Aircraft Category | Gyrocraft |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| 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 | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Unknown |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 40 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | SEGO TOOL INC. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1784 W. 500 SOUTH |
| Aircraft Owner City | SALT LAKE CITY |
| Aircraft Owner State | UT |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 84104 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | GROEN BROTHERS AVIATION INC. |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 2320 W. CALIFORNIA AVE, STE A |
| Operator City | SALT LAKE CITY |
| Operator State | UT |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 84104 |
| 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 | T62 |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1416 |
| Departure Time Zone | MDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | |
| Destination City | |
| 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 | 36 |
| Runway Length | 5000 |
| Runway Width | 100 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |