Skip to content

ERA22LA269

2022-06-11 · Butler, Pennsylvania, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport BTP

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot’s failure to monitor rotor disk speed on takeoff, which resulted in blade flapping and the main rotor blades striking the gyroplane’s tail assembly.

Factual narrative

The pilot said the traffic pattern was busy, so he began the pre-rotation process as he taxied the gyroplane onto the runway to depart. At that time, the rotor disk rpm was at 140 rpm, which was 20 rpm above the recommended takeoff speed. The pilot said he slowly applied power because he had a passenger onboard, which may have allowed time for the disk speed to decay and become susceptible to blade flap. During the takeoff roll, the gyroplane’s main rotor blades struck and severed the tail assembly, resulting in substantial damage. The pilot said there were no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation.  Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

FAA avdata. C = Cause, F = Factor.

  • — Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Prop/rotor parameters-Not attained/maintained
  • — Personnel issues-Psychological-Attention/monitoring-Monitoring equip/instruments-Pilot

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2022_ERA22LA269.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. All research papers