History of Flight
On July 30, 2022, about 1005 eastern daylight time, an experimental amateur-built Tango 2 gyroplane, registration N8680G, was substantially damaged when it struck terrain near Melrose, Florida. The flight instructor and pilot under instruction were fatally injured. The gyroplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 instructional flight.
The gyroplane departed Melrose Landing Airport (FD22), Hawthorne, Florida, at an unknown time. Witnesses observed and heard the gyroplane flying in the local area. One witness captured an image of the gyroplane passing over an auto parts store; another estimated its airspeed at 20 to 30 knots, about 1,000 ft above ground level. Shortly before the accident, witnesses reported additional noises from the gyroplane, described as banging, whining, and the engine stopping. Some observed debris and objects falling from the sky, including loss of propellers and/or rotor blades. The gyroplane did not autorotate, but descended rapidly, spinning, pitching over, tumbling, and descending inverted. After impact, smoke and fire were observed.
Personnel Information
The flight instructor and pilot under instruction were married. The pilot under instruction held ratings for airplane single-engine land and instrument airplane, but not for gyroplanes. The flight instructor held a flight instructor certificate with a sport rating and endorsements for airplane single-engine land and gyroplane. He had provided the pilot under instruction about 9 hours of gyroplane instruction.
Aircraft Information
The accident aircraft was a gyroplane, which unlike a helicopter has an unpowered rotor that spins due to forward motion. It comprised an airframe with a 28-ft, two-bladed Chenaho rotor, a pre-rotator system, tricycle landing gear, and two tandem open cockpits. It had an aft-mounted vertical stabilizer and rudder, and an aft-mounted horizontal stabilizer. The gyroplane's special airworthiness certificate was issued July 1, 2019; its most recent condition inspection was completed August 1, 2020 (about 2 years before the accident). At the time of the accident, the gyroplane and engine had accrued about 77 total hours of operation.
Wreckage and Impact Information
Examination revealed the gyroplane impacted a pasture in a nose-low left bank, coming to rest on a magnetic heading of about 243°. Light items were thrown during impact, but no wreckage path existed; components were near the main wreckage. Most of the front and rear cockpits were consumed by post-impact fire. The left main landing gear was embedded; the left outboard vertical and horizontal stabilizers were crushed; the center vertical stabilizer and rudder were twisted; the right horizontal stabilizer was also twisted. Flight control continuity was traced through breaks to the rudder and rotor head.
One rotor blade was missing; it had separated about 2 inches outboard of the blade grip. The remaining blade had two bends and witness marks corresponding to the propeller and vertical stabilizer. The rotor head and hub bar were intact and could rotate. The pre-rotator system was damaged but continuity was present. The three-blade pusher propeller hub remained attached; two blades were broken off about 8 inches outboard of the hub; one blade was intact. The propeller speed reduction unit contained oil and rotated by hand; the centrifugal clutch was intact. The engine remained in its mounts but sustained thermal damage; the drivetrain would not rotate. The timing chain and camshafts were intact; valves were intact; no exhaust blockages were found. Oil was present; the oil pump was functional; the oil filter and pleated material were thermally damaged; no metallic debris was found. Ignition and fuel injection systems were fire-damaged. The water pump impeller had melted; the radiator was intact. On August 3, 2022, the missing rotor blade was found in a wooded area about 312 ft east-northeast of the main wreckage.
Materials laboratory examination of the separated rotor blade fragment showed upward bending over 45° before separation, with fracture surfaces consistent with overstress due to bending. The rudder push-pull rod end exhibited a fracture in the threaded shank with bending deformation and slant fractures consistent with bending overstress.
Medical and Pathological Information
Autopsies of both occupants listed cause of death as multiple blunt injuries, manner accidental. The flight instructor's autopsy showed moderate aortic atherosclerosis and kidney changes consistent with chronic high blood pressure. Toxicology tests on the instructor detected ethanol in liver tissue (0.27 g/hg) but not in FAA tests; fentanyl was found in liver, lung, and kidney; hydroxyzine in heart; and losartan, amlodipine, and metoprolol in liver and muscle. The pilot under instruction's autopsy found no significant natural disease; toxicology detected ethanol in liver (not quantified) but not in FAA tests; diphenhydramine was found in liver and muscle.