LAX06LA236 · Hammack Air Command Elite
Hammack Air Command Elite · Accident: airframe, component or system failure while maneuvering
From Hilo International Airport (PHTO) to Hilo International Airport (PHTO)
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX06LA236
- 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
- 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
Hammack Air Command Elite
- Aircraft type
- Hammack AIR COMMAND ELITE
- 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
- N6111A
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Hilo International Airport (PHTO), Hilo, HITo Hilo International Airport (PHTO)
- 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
- Airframe, component or system failure
- 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
- Miscellaneous, bolt/nut/fastener/clamp/spring › Missing
- Pilot in command › Aircraft control, not possible
- Rotorcraft flight control, gyrocopter rotor ctl arm › Separation
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The gyrocopter collided with terrain following an in-flight separation of a control system rod. While making a right turn about 500 feet above ground level (agl), the pilot experienced a loss of control and the gyrocopter continued to roll to the right. The pilot attempted to regain control by correcting for the increasing rate of turn and descent of the gyrocopter, but he was not able to. He attempted to perform a forced landing and subsequently collided with terrain adjacent to the destination airport. The gyrocopter was constructed by and regularly maintained by the pilot. A post accident examination of the wreckage revealed that a bolt attaching a control rod in the cyclic system was missing. The bolt and its respective nut were never located. The gyrocopter manual states that during a preflight inspection, the pilot should verify the integrity of the nylon locking nut by twisting it in a counterclockwise direction. If the nut moves during this check, it should be replaced before the gyrocopter is flown.
Probable cause
an in-flight separation of a control rod joint assembly, which resulted in the pilot's loss of control. The underlying reason for the separation could not be determined.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX06LA236
- Event ID
- 20060720X00976
- Case number
- LAX06LA236
- 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. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 2006-07-19.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 60451d7acc8f5d57da312bd8ad15ed37300d689ff9f483e1259ffd0aef66a6d4; retrieved 2026-09-21T08:55:40.200Z.