14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Sunday, September 21, 2014 in Reserve, LA
Probable Cause Approval Date: 06/01/2015
Aircraft: BRUPBACHER CHRIS CB2000, registration: N5002E
Injuries: 2 Fatal.
NTSB investigators may not have traveled in support of this investigation and used data provided by various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.
Witnesses reported observing the gyroplane take off from the runway, turn left onto the crosswind leg, and climb to about 200 ft. They then saw something fall off the gyroplane before it crashed into an adjacent canal and sank. Postaccident examination revealed that the flight control rod bearing stud exhibited extensive corrosion, consistent with the crack being present before impact. When the rod bearing failed, the main rotor blades went to full pitch, which placed an excessive load on the rotor mast. The rotor mast then folded, which allowed the pusher propeller to strike and sever the tail. The pilot had owned the airplane for 3 years; no records for the gyroplane were located.
The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident as follows:
The failure of the flight control rod bearing due to an undetected preexisting corrosion-induced crack, which resulted in the main rotor blades going to full pitch and the rotor mast folding; this allowed the pusher propeller to strike and sever the tail.
HISTORY OF FLIGHT
On September 21, 2014, about 1720 central daylight time (2220 UTC), a Brupbacher CB2000 gyroplane, N5002E, impacted a canal in Reserve, Louisiana, after an unknown item was observed separating from the gyroplane. The pilot and passenger were fatally injured. The gyroplane was destroyed. The gyroplane was registered to and operated by the pilot under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a personal flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident, and no flight plan had been filed. The local flight had just originated from St. John the Baptist Parish Airport (1L0), Reserve, Louisiana.
Witnesses reported seeing the gyroplane take off on runway 35, turn left onto the crosswind leg, and climb to about 200 feet. They "saw something fall" off the gyroplane, then the rotor blades folded, and the gyroplane crashed into a canal and sank.
DAMAGE TO AIRCRAFT
The wreckage was recovered from the canal the next day
PERSONNEL (CREW) INFORMATION
According to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) records, the 47-year-old pilot held a private pilot certificate with an airplane single-engine land rating. He was not gyroplane rated. He also held a third class airman medical certificate, dated January 22, 2014, with no restrictions or limitations. According to his application for medical certification, the pilot estimated he had accumulated 260 total flight hours, 40 hours of which were accrued in the previous six months. Since his logbook was not recovered, his flight time in the gyroplane could not be determined. However, records show the pilot had owned the gyroplane for three months.
AIRCRAFT INFORMATION
According to FAA records, N5002E (serial number H2-02-13-546), a model CB2000 was an amateur homebuilt gyroplane constructed by a Chris Brupbacher in 2003. A certificate of airworthiness was issued to the pilot on June 16, 2014. The gyroplane was powered by Subaru 2200 cc, 4-cycle, liquid cooled automotive engine, rated at 130 horsepower.
Some aircraft paperwork was recovered from the canal. After being dried out, no useful information was obtained.
METEOROLOGICAL INFORMATION
The following weather observations were recorded at the Louis Armstrong-New Orleans International Airport, located 18 miles east of, and nearest to, the accident location:
1653: Wind, 050 degrees at 5 knots; visibility, 10 miles; sky condition, 4000 feet scattered; temperature, 31 degrees Centigrade (C.); dew point, 19 degrees C.; altimeter setting, 29.97 inches of mercury
1753: Wind, 050 degrees at 6 knots; visibility, 10 miles,; sky condition, clear; temperature, 30 degrees C.; dew point, 18 degrees C; altimeter, 29.97 inches of mercury.
AERODROME INFORMATION
St. John the Baptist Parish Airport (1L0) is located 2 miles northwest of Reserve, Louisiana, and 18 miles west of New Orleans, Louisiana. It is situated 7 feet above sea level and is equipped with two runways, 17-35: 3,999 feet x 75 feet, asphalt.
WRECKAGE AND IMPACT INFORMATION
Airworthiness and operations inspectors from the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Baton Rouge Flight Standards District Office went to the accident site and examined the wreckage. The gyrocopter impacted in standing water. Once removed, the main rotor mast was observed in a folded position. The rudder was separated from the wreckage and exhibited damage consistent with contact from the pusher propeller. The tail boom and vertical stabilizer were separated from the main wreckage. Examination of the flight control linkage revealed one flight control rod bearing stud fractured. The fracture surface contained corrosion, consistent with the crack being present prior to impact. An additional control rod bearing had surface corrosion similar to the corrosion present on the fractured bearing stud.
MEDICAL AND PATHOLOGICAL INFORMATION
An autopsy was conducted by the New Orleans, Louisiana, Forensic Center. The autopsy report did not state a cause of death. The autopsy report was reviewed by FAA's research medical officer, who cited the cause of death to be "multiple traumatic injuries."
According to the toxicology report, diphenhydramine was detected in the pilot's urine, and 0.027 (ug/ml, ug/g) diphenhydramine was detected in blood (cavity). No carbon monoxide or ethanol was detected.
According to FAA's medical officer's review, diphenhydramine (Benadryl®, Unisom®) is an antihistamine used for treating allergic reactions, and is also used as a sedative because it causes drowsiness.
NTSB Identification: CEN14LA508
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Sunday, September 21, 2014 in Reserve, LA
Aircraft: BRUPBACHER CHRIS CB2000, registration: N5002E
Injuries: 2 Fatal.
This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed. NTSB investigators may not have traveled in support of this investigation and used data provided by various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.
On September 21, 2014, about 1720 central daylight time, a Brupbacher CB2000 gyroplane, N5002E, impacted water in Reserve, Louisiana, after an unknown item was observed separating from the gyroplane. The pilot and passenger were fatally injured. The gyroplane was destroyed. The gyroplane was registered to and operated by the pilot under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a personal flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident, and no flight plan had been filed. The local flight had just originated from St. John the Baptist Parish Airport (1L0), Reserve, Louisiana.
Witnesses reported seeing the gyroplane take off on runway 35, turn left onto the crosswind leg, and climb to about 200 feet. They saw "something fall off" the gyroplane, then the rotor blades folded, and the gyroplane crashed into a canal and submerged.
This undated file photo shows the homebuilt gyrocopter that crashed in Reserve, killing two people. The aircraft was sold and painted red after this photo was made.
(Photo courtesy of Rommel Dorado.)
A preliminary report by the FAA into a fatal crash of a gyrocopter at the St. John the Baptist Parish airport on Sunday indicates that corroded flight control rod bearings caused the aircraft's rotor blades to break shortly after takeoff, a National Transportation Safety Board investigator said Tuesday (Sept. 23). After the blades broke, the aircraft plunged into a water-filled canal, killing two people.
The rod bearings, according to aviation experts, hold the rotor blades in place and allow the pilot to control the aircraft.
The pilot, 47-year-old Darren Mahler of Metairie, and his passenger, 13-year-old Payton Wilt, a family friend and neighbor, were pronounced dead at the scene.
Gyrocopters are slim, light aircraft that are similar to helicopters. They are equipped with a both propeller and a rotary blade. They are classified as experimental because they often are built by amateurs from kits, and the FAA does not certify either the kit or the builder.
Mahler's aircraft was, according to the FAA registry, built from a kit and certified airworthy in 2003. It was registered to Mahler in June.
Federal Aviation Administration and airport officials spent much of Monday recovering the wreckage from the canal and examining it for clues.
"They examined all of the wreckage, that's what they found," NTSB investigator Arnold Scott said.
The tail boom, or rudder, of the aircraft also was sheared off when it came into contact with the push propeller blades, Scott said.
Scott said he doesn't know if the corroded bearings would have been visible during a pre-flight inspection by the pilot, and said he didn't know when the gyrocopter received its last maintenance inspection by the FAA.
"The maintenance records were in the water," Scott said. "We're drying them out."
The investigation is ongoing, and Scott said he was still waiting on an autopsy and toxicology report on the pilot.
While it may be weeks before a final report on the cause of the crash is filed, the preliminary findings are consistent with the mechanical problems described by Joey Murray, a Port of South Louisiana Commissioner and chairman of the Aviation Committee, who witnessed the takeoff and the crash.
Murray has said that the aircraft made it about 300 feet down the runway before taking off about 30 feet into the air, where it flew for about 1,000 feet.
The aircraft then rose to 300 feet as it crossed the end of the runway and took a westward turn. As the plane shifted direction, its top blades "folded upward" and the plane quickly descended into a canal where it was submerged, Murray said.
Authorities say that Mahler, who housed the aircraft at the Reserve airport, had taken several flights earlier in the day.
http://www.nola.com
The aircraft that crashed Sunday in St. John the Baptist Parish, killing both occupants, was identified by authorities as a gyrocopter: a slim, light helicopter equipped with a propeller and a rotary blade with a cabin smaller than a Smart car.
Gyroplanes are still classified by the Federal Aviation Authority as experimental aircraft, but that does not mean that they are necessarily more dangerous, said Brent Drake, a board member at the Popular Rotorcraft Association, who specializes in gyroplanes.
"It's one of the safest flying machines out there," said Drake, who said that he has logged 1,500 hours flying the aircrafts since 1974.
Rather, gyroplanes are classified as experimental because they are often built by amateurs from kits and the FAA does not certify either the kit or the person who puts it together, said a spokesperson for the agency.
That may very well have been the case with the aircraft that crashed outside of St. John the Baptist Parish Airport on Sunday, killing pilot Darren Mahler, 47, and Payton Wilt, 13. (Learn more about the crash here.)
Records at the FAA show that the aircraft was "amateur built" and first registered under the name of metro area resident Chris Brupbacher under a singular model number that carried Brupbacher's initials: a CB2000. The aircraft was first registered as flight worthy in 2003 but only recently registered under Mahler's name, in June 2014. Brupbacher was not immediately available for comment.
Wilt's stepfather, Stephen Costanza, said Monday that he had seen Mahler building the gyrocopter from a kit in his garage in Metairie.
Drake said that the aircraft are relatively safe because if their motor fails, the rotor that gives the craft its lift will continue to turn so that the aircraft hovers down to the ground at the "speed of a parachute," Drake said.
"The top rotor blade is always in auto rotation so that if something fails, the motor quits or something like that it will just come straight down like a maple speed comes down, at the speed of a parachute," Drake said. "But it's just like any machine: There's always a risk."
Mahler would have been well prepared to fly the aircraft if he had a private pilot license, which covers the flight of rotorcraft including gyroplanes, Drake said. The Flight Academy of New Orleans LLC listed Mahler as a graduate of its program, having received a private pilot license.
Drake said that gyroplanes have become increasingly popular since invented in the 1920s and that several sheriff's departments, including one in Alabama, have used the aircraft for patrols. "They will do about anything a helicopter will do except for hover and they will do it for about a fraction of the cost," Drake said.
- Source: http://www.nola.com
Any witnesses should email witness@ntsb.gov, and any friends and family who want to contact investigators about the accident should email assistance@ntsb.gov.
DARREN J. MAHLER: http://registry.faa.gov/N5002E
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