Skip to content

CEN14LA056

2013-11-16 · Anahuac, Texas, United States · Fatal · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport T00

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The incorrect installation by the pilot, who was not a certificated mechanic or repairman, of the main rotor head bearing block, which resulted in the in-flight separation of the rotor head.

Factual narrative

On November 16, 2013, about 1315 central standard time, a Pearson Dragonfly, an amateur-built gyroplane, N975DF, impacted terrain near the Chambers County Airport (T00), in Anahuac, Texas. The pilot, the sole occupant on board, was fatally injured, and 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 for the flight, and no flight plan had been filed. The flight originated from Anahuac about 1300.The following is based on the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector's report: The gyroplane was in the airport traffic pattern. Witnesses saw the main rotor head separate in flight and the gyroplane impacted terrain about 1 mile southwest of T00. According to friends of the pilot and the mechanic who performed the last conditional inspection, the pilot-owner performed the majority of the maintenance on the gyroplane, and he had recently installed a main rotor head bearing block. Examination of the wreckage revealed the bearing block had been installed upside down. The mechanic said the bearing block was being held in place solely by friction. The pilot was not an FAA-certificated mechanic nor was he a certificated repairman. An autopsy performed on the pilot disclosed the cause of death to be "blunt force injuries." The gyroplane was in the airport traffic pattern when witnesses saw the main rotor head separate in flight and the gyroplane subsequently impact terrain. The pilot's friends and the mechanic who performed the last conditional inspection reported that the pilot/owner performed most of the maintenance on the gyroplane and that he had recently installed the main rotor head bearing block. Examination of the wreckage revealed that the bearing block had been installed upside down and was being held in place solely by friction. The pilot was not a Federal Aviation Administration-certificated mechanic or repairman. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

FAA avdata. C = Cause, F = Factor.

  • C Aircraft-Aircraft propeller/rotor-Main rotor system-Main rotor head system-Incorrect service/maintenance - C
  • C Personnel issues-Task performance-Maintenance-Installation-Pilot - C

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2013_CEN14LA056.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Search this event elsewhere

External sources are reported, not agency: signal that something happened, not fact about what happened.

Related research

Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (stall, maintenance). All research papers