Vanderhoof Steve AIR COMMAN N8099P

Summary

On 5 August 2009 at about 18:25 local time, a Vanderhoof Steve AIR COMMAN registered N8099P, operated by Steve Vanderhoof, was involved in an accident near Mentone, Indiana, United States. One person was on board and one had minor injuries. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

5 August 2009 at 18:25

Classification

Accident

Location

Mentone, Indiana, United States

Nearest airport

Mentone Airport (C92)

Coordinates

41.1500, -86.0622

Aircraft

Vanderhoof Steve AIR COMMAN

Registration

N8099P

Category

Gyrocraft

Engines

1

Operator

Steve Vanderhoof

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Rochester → Mentone

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN09CA504

1 person had minor injuries.

The pilot's failure to maintain aircraft control during the landing and subsequent impact with a parked aircraft.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The local airport was hosting an annual rotorcraft convention. Prior to the flight, the pilot had participated in the pilot's briefing and had been cleared to fly at the event. After flying to a nearby airport for lunch, the pilot was returning to the airport hosting the convention when the accident occurred. The pilot had entered a left hand traffic pattern for landing on runway 36. The air boss cleared the pilot to land and the pilot noticed "there was a lot of other aircraft activity." The pilot elected to extend his intended landing spot "past the majority of the aircraft... ." The pilot reported that "I hit the runway very hard and bounced on one wheel which veered me to the right in the direction of the east grass beside the runway. I was still going to be OK and continued to try and land. Then I was in the slow speed where the nose wheel is not on the ground yet and you are not able to steer and the rudder is becoming ineffective because of the slow airspeed and forward speed. I saw a [unoccupied] gyro parked close to the edge of the runway and it looked like I would clear it by a small margin. I powered up to put some airflow across the rudder in effort to steer clear of the gyro. I thought I had it made and then our rotors impacted and locked together. It flipped me over and dragged [the] gyro with mine." Examination of the accident gyrocraft revealed the main rotor blades were destroyed. No mechanical anomalies were noted with the accident gyrocraft.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.