LAX92LA408 · Air Command
Air Command · Accident: loss of control in flight on approach
From 033 to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX92LA408
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Completed
- API-reported fatalities
- 2 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 0
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- General aviation
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Air Command
- Category
- Gyroplane
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- UNREG
- Operator
- Rains, John N. · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From 033To not recorded
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 91: General Aviation
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Approach · VFR pattern final
- First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Loss of control in flight
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Unqualified person › Aircraft control, not maintained
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
FAA RECORDS REVEALED THAT NEITHER THE PILOT NOR THE PASSENGER HAD EVER HELD AN AIRMAN OR MEDICAL CERTIFICATE. THE EXPERIMENTAL GYROCOPTER WAS UNLICENSED AND UNREGISTERED. THE PILOT BOUGHT THE AIRCRAFT 20 DAYS PRIOR TO THE ACCIDENT AND WAS GIVEN TWO HOURS OF INSTRUCTION BY THE DEALER. AT THE TIME OF THE ACCIDENT HE WAS ESTIMATED TO HAVE FLOWN A TOTAL OF ABOUT 5 HOURS. ON THE DAY OF THE ACCIDENT THE PILOT AND HIS PASSENGER FLEW EARLIER IN THE MORNING TO PRACTICE TOUCH AND GO LANDINGS. ON THE ACCIDENT FLIGHT THEY REPORTEDLY WERE TO CONTINUE THE TOUCH AND GO PATTERN PRACTICE AND TWO SUCCESSFUL TOUCH AND GO'S WERE PERFORMED. ON THE THIRD APPROACH WHILE ON FINAL WITNESSES SAW THE AIRCRAFT SUDDENLY PITCH NOSE DOWN AND DIVE TO GROUND IMPACT ABOUT 100 YARDS FROM THE END OF THE RUNWAY. THE WITNESSES REPORTED HEARING STRONG ENGINE SOUNDS DURING THE FINAL DESCENT TO IMPACT. RESPONDING SHERIFF'S OFFICERS REPORTED DETECTING A STRONG ODOR OF FUEL IN THE IMMEDIATE VICINITY OF THE WRECKAGE AND FOUND THE FUEL TANK COMPROMISED. THE DEPUTY NOTED THAT HE EXAMINED THE ENGINE AREA AND OBSERVED 'NOTHING REMARKABLE.' THE MAIN ROTOR BLADES AND THE ENGINE PROPELLER WERE PRESENT AT THE IMPACT SITE.
Probable cause
THE FAILURE OF THE UNQUALIFIED NON CERTIFICATED PILOT TO MAINTAIN CONTROL OF THE GYROCOPTER. A FACTOR IN THE ACCIDENT WAS THE PILOT'S LACK OF TOTAL EXPERIENCE.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX92LA408
- Event ID
- 20001211X15740
- Case number
- LAX92LA408
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
- Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 6e22cd06c5b3a021080fbf2bd8468c4c4ffffff9b6ed7370e337ae4cb9019d44; retrieved 2026-09-21T00:54:31.609Z.