Landry GYROBEE N392JL

Summary

On 19 February 2001 at about 20:10 local time, a Landry GYROBEE registered N392JL was involved in an accident near Chehalis, Washington, United States. One person was on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

19 February 2001 at 20:10

Classification

Accident

Location

Chehalis, Washington, United States

Nearest airport

Chehalis-Centralia (CLS)

Coordinates

46.6201, -122.9996

Aircraft

Landry GYROBEE

Registration

N392JL

Category

Gyrocraft

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Chehalis → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

SEA01LA051

Nobody was injured.

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.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

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...."

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.