DEN93LA003 · O'CONNOR SNO-BIRD XL SNO-BIRD X
O'CONNOR SNO-BIRD XL SNO-BIRD X · Accident: loss of control in flight while maneuvering
From Coulter Field (CFD) to Coulter Field (CFD)
Event
- NTSB case
- DEN93LA003
- 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
- 0 · 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
O'CONNOR SNO-BIRD XL SNO-BIRD X
- Aircraft type
- O'connor SNO-BIRD XL
- 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
- N532SB
- Operator
- O'Connor, Dougas J. · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Coulter Field (CFD)To Coulter Field (CFD)
- 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
- Maneuvering
- 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
- Flight control, rudder surface › Delamination
- Flight control, rudder › Jammed
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Bryan, TX, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
THE PILOT WAS DEMONSTRATING VARIOUS MANEUVERS IN HIS GYROCOPTER AT AN AIR SHOW. HE ENTERED A LEFT VERTICAL SPIN AND NOTED THE ENTRY WAS SLUGGISH. WHEN HE ADDED POWER TO AID IN SPIN DEVELOPMENT, THE RUDDER JAMMED FULL LEFT. EFFORTS TO RECOVER WERE TO NO AVAIL AND THE GYROCOPTER IMPACTED TERRAIN NEXT TO THE AIRPORT RUNWAY. POSTACCIDENT EXAMINATION DISCLOSED THE LEADING EDGE OF THE FIBERGLASS RUDDER HAD DELAMINATED AND HAD JAMMED THE RUDDER IN THE FULL LEFT POSITION.
Probable cause
DELAMINATION OF THE RUDDER LEADING EDGE AND SUBSEQUENT JAMMING OF THE RUDDER.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record DEN93LA003
- Event ID
- 20001211X15853
- Case number
- DEN93LA003
- 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: 1e06fc5ef3388a24a7a9eccb575872ef7a6ebfc44403065af9bf78feba21104e; retrieved 2026-09-21T14:41:01.839Z.