Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Salem Muni Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Salem, Indiana 47167
Friday, December 14, 2007 14:26 EST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
A witness reported that after takeoff, when approximately 20 feet above ground level (agl), the gyroplane drifted to the right and the tail turned "abruptly" to the right about 90-degrees. The pilot reduced power and regained control. The gyroplane returned to the runway centerline and the pilot appeared to be setting up for a landing. However, when the gyroplane was about 5 feet above the runway, the pilot increased engine power and started to climb. About 75 to 100 feet agl, the tail of the gyroplane again turned "abruptly" to the right, the nose pitched up "steeply," and the aircraft rolled inverted. It subsequently impacted the ground on the rotor mast. A post accident examination did not reveal any anomalies consistent with a pre-impact failure or malfunction. The pilot did not have any recollection of the accident flight. He reported that he had owned the accident gyroplane for 2-1/2 years, but he was still just learning. He soloed the previous summer and had accumulated about 5 hours of solo flight time. He had about 20 hours total flight time in gyroplanes. The pilot held a private pilot certificate with a single-engine land airplane rating, with about 280 hours flight time in airplanes.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to maintain control of the gyroplane during climbout after takeoff.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 12/14/2007 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1426 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Standard Time |
| Event City | Salem |
| Event State | INDIANA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 47167 |
| Event Date Year | 2007 |
| Event Date Month | 12 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 383607N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0860824W |
| Event Location Airport | Salem Muni |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | I83 |
| 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 | 822 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1456 Eastern Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 144 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | SDF |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 501 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 32 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 25000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 3000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Few |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 6 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -3 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 0 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 4 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.31 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | METAR KSDF 141856Z 00000KT 10SM SCT025 BKN250 04/M |
| Event Highest Injury | Serious |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 23626 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Dec 18 2007 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 28 2008 12:03PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | FAA-Indianapolis FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N24DN |
| NTSB Number | CHI08LA052 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Levick |
| Aircraft Model | RAF-2000-GTX-SE |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | H2-98-340 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1500 |
| Aircraft Category | Gyrocraft |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| 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 | Conditional |
| Date of Last Inspection | May 1 2007 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 2.5 |
| Airframe Hours | 230 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | -- |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Warren E. Maddox |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Pekin |
| Aircraft Owner State | IN |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 47165 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| 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 | I83 |
| Departure City | Salem |
| Departure State | IN |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1426 |
| Departure Time Zone | EST |
| 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 | May 11 2008 8:51PM |
| User who most recently changed record | BOWL |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 28 |
| Runway Length | 2500 |
| Runway Width | 50 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |