What happened
On April 29, 2005, a trainee pilot was conducting his third solo flight as part of a training program for a gyroplane-class ultralight pilot license. The flight, performed in an ELA 7 C gyrocable (identified as 33-UL), involved practicing landings with minimum engine power.
While flying at an altitude of approximately 800 feet, the pilot positioned the aircraft in a right downwind pattern for runway 30. As the engine power was significantly reduced at the start of the downwind leg, the aircraft began a descent. At an altitude of roughly 500 feet, the aircraft entered a spin. During the descent, the main rotor speed decreased significantly, eventually coming to a stop. The aircraft subsequently collided with the ground and caught fire, resulting in the death of the pilot and the destruction of the aircraft.
The investigation
Investigators examined the wreckage and found no mechanical anomalies that could have caused the accident. Witnesses observed the pilot struggling during the descent and noted that the emergency parachute was not deployed.
Upon inspection, the deployment handle for the parachute was found melted due to the post-crash fire. Crucially, the safety pin intended to prevent accidental deployment was found near the wreckage rather than in its designated storage pocket behind the seat. The flight instructor testified that he instructed students to remove this pin before their first takeoff, but he did not observe the pilot performing this action during this flight.
Findings
- The primary cause of the accident was an excessive nose-down pitch command by the pilot.
- In a downwind flight condition, an excessive nose-down attitude reduces the load factor, causing the airflow to reverse through the rotor. This leads to a rapid reduction in rotor RPM (approximately 100 RPM per second), making flight control impossible.
- A contributing factor was the failure to properly deploy the emergency parachute system, exacerbated by the fact that the safety pin had not been removed from the deployment handle prior to flight.