DEN02FA076 · Wheeler Doug 2000
Wheeler Doug 2000 · Accident: loss of control in flight during initial climb
From Ogden Hinckley Airport (OGD) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- DEN02FA076
- 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
- Unknown
- 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
Wheeler Doug 2000
- Aircraft type
- Wheeler DOUG 2000
- 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
- N2058T
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Ogden Hinckley Airport (OGD), Ogden, UTTo 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
- Initial climb
- 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
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › Rotor RPM, not obtained/maintained
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
Main rotor blade rpm was seen to slow as the pilot waited for landing traffic to clear the runway. The pilot was then cleared for takeoff on runway 34. Wind was reported to be from 320 degrees at 16 knots, gusting to 23 knots. Main rotor rpm was seen to increase as the gyroplane began its takeoff roll. After it had lifted off and climbed 200 to 400 feet, witnesses saw something separate from the gyroplane and it fall to the ground. An endorsement in the pilot's logbook indicated he was competent for "solo day flight...with winds less than 15 knots and crosswind component less than 8 knots." He was not rated in gyroplanes. Wreckage examination revealed the rectangular boxed beam tail boom was twisted and severed about 2 feet in front of the vertical stabilizer. The vertical stabilizer leading edge bore chop marks. The rudder was shattered. A diagonal crease mark was noted on the left surface of the vertical stabilizer, running from the upper leading edge to the lower trailing, near the tail wheel. Both rudder cables were severed. The outboard portions of all four pusher propeller blades were severed at the same angle. Both main rotor blades were bent downward at the hub, and one blade was severed. The pilot's toxicology screen was positive for nordiazepam, oxazepam, and temazepam. These are metabolites of benzodiazepine. The most common benzodiazepine, Valium, prescribed under the name of Restoril, is a tranquilizer used in the treatment of anxiety, and is contraindicated for flying. Since benzodiazepines were not detected in blood, the pilot most likely was not under its influence. The aircraft's flight manual gives the following warnings: "Attempting takeoff at full engine power with initial rotor speed less than 150 rpm will lead to blade flapping. In this condition the rotor will contact the ground."
Probable cause
the pilot's failure to obtain and maintain adequate main rotor rpm, resulting in blade flapping and subsequent blade contact with the airframe, severing of the tailboom, and causing loss of aircraft control. Contributing factors were the high gusty winds, and the pilot's lack of proper certification.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record DEN02FA076
- Event ID
- 20020730X01251
- Case number
- DEN02FA076
- 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: local date, investigation status, coordinates. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 2002-07-17.
- API snapshot SHA-256: bc613dfb6afadbc7505b790a32cf5ab4f517803c2f06e9884edfd9779c9f0286; retrieved 2026-09-20T19:57:18.594Z.