FTW01LA108

Factual narrative

On April 29, 2001, at 1446 central daylight time, a Cartercopters Cartercopter experimental prototype gyrocraft, N121CC, was substantially damaged when it encountered soft terrain and nosed down during landing following an aborted takeoff at the Olney Municipal Airport, Olney, Texas. The aircraft was registered to and operated by CarterCopters LLC, of Wichita Falls, Texas. The commercial pilot and his crewmember were not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and a flight plan was not filed for the 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 test flight. The local flight was originating at the time of the accident. According to the FAA inspector, who responded to the accident site, the pilot was conducting a test flight over runway 17. The pilot took off from runway 17 and flew approximately 2-3 feet above the ground. According to the pilot, he applied "right cyclic control" for drift correction while raising the collective approximately "6 degrees for climb." The pilot reported that at the same time the nose pitched up rapidly and rolled to the right. Corrective control inputs were applied to level the gyrocopter; however, it rolled left and over flew the edge of the runway. The pilot reduced the collective, and the aircraft touched down on the ground in a level attitude rolling approximately 25 mph. As the gyrocraft slowed to approximately 5 mph, the nose landing gear collapsed, the gyrocraft nosed down, and the main rotor blades contacted the ground and sustained structural damage. The pilot had accumulated 3,800 flight hours. However, this was the pilot's first flight in this aircraft. According to the manufacturer, the flight was conducted in order to understand the prototype's flight characteristics. The pilot was conducting a test flight over the runway. The experimental prototype gyrocraft took off from the runway and flew approximately 2-3 feet above the ground. The pilot applied "right cyclic control" for drift correction while raising the collective approximately "6 degrees for climb." The pilot reported that at the same time the nose pitched up rapidly and rolled to the right. Corrective control inputs were applied to level the gyrocopter; however, it rolled left and over flew the edge of the runway. The pilot reduced the collective, and the aircraft touched down on the ground in a level attitude rolling approximately 25 mph. As the gyrocraft slowed to approximately 5 mph, the nose landing gear collapsed, the gyrocraft nosed down, and the main rotor blades contacted the ground and sustained structural damage. The pilot had accumulated 3,800 flight hours. This was the pilot's first flight in the accident aircraft. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12