Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Chehalis-Centralia Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Chehalis, Washington 98532
Monday, February 19, 2001 12:10 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot reported that about half way down the runway, he increased power to initiate a "crow-hop" maneuver. As the gyroplane started to become airborne it also began a right drift, which the pilot believed was from a left crosswind with slightly gusty wind conditions. The pilot reported that he "...adjusted the cyclic control to arrest the right drift..," that "...as the aircraft left the surface of the runway and became airborne, it immediately banked and drifted to the right...," and "...in attempting to adjust the cyclic control to level the aircraft, I either failed to move the control adequately, or I mistakenly moved it in the wrong direction...." The pilot reported a total of 918 hours of flight experience (all in rotorcraft) and 15 hours in the accident make. He also reported that "...the accident aircraft was fitted with an overhead cyclic control stick connected directly to the rotor head assembly..." and that "...this type of direct cyclic control can be described as having "reverse" control movements when compared to conventional cyclic control systems..." (e.g., to move the gyroplane right the pilot applies left cyclic). The majority of the pilot's flight experience was in "conventionally" controlled rotorcraft and he believed that he "...may have reverted back to [the] deeply imbedded control reflexes and moved the cyclic control in the wrong direction...."
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot-in-command's reverse application of cyclic to counteract a right drift during the takeoff roll in a gyroplane whose controls had been designed reverse of standard. Contributing factors were the gusty wind conditions and the pilot's "expectancy" or reversion to habit patterns based on non-reversed controls from the majority of his flight experience.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 2/19/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 1210 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | Chehalis |
| Event State | WASHINGTON |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 98532 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 2 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | Chehalis-Centralia |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | CLS |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 174 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1154 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 130 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | TDO |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 375 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 14 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 16000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 800 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 1 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 7 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 4 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 320 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 4 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.89 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 12930 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA SEA ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | Feb 19 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1237 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 13 2003 8:13AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Renton FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N392JL |
| NTSB Number | SEA01LA051 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Landry |
| Aircraft Model | Gyrobee |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | JAL01 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 625 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jun 1 2000 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 16 |
| Airframe Hours | 15 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Landry, John A. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 116 18th Avenue SE |
| Aircraft Owner City | Olympia |
| Aircraft Owner State | UT |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 98501 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| 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? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| 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 | CLS |
| Departure City | Chehalis |
| Departure State | WA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1210 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| 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 - roll/run |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 30 2001 6:09PM |
| User who most recently changed record | STAM |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 33 |
| Runway Length | 5000 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |