GAA18CA179 · Lynn Perry CAVALON
Lynn Perry CAVALON · Accident: loss of control on ground during takeoff
From Dean Memorial Airport (5B9) to Dean Memorial Airport (5B9)
Event
- NTSB case
- GAA18CA179
- 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
Lynn Perry CAVALON
- Aircraft type
- Lynn Perry CAVALON
- 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
- N442AG
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Dean Memorial Airport (5B9), Haverhill, NHTo Dean Memorial Airport (5B9), Haverhill, NH
- Aircraft age
- About 1 year (built 2017)
- 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
- Takeoff
- Defining eventThe 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 on ground
- 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
- Aircraft › Aircraft oper/perf/capability
- Personnel issues › Task performance
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot of the gyroplane reported that, during the takeoff roll, after the front landing gear became light, he attempted to push the control stick forward, but was unable. He then used both hands in an attempt to push the stick forward. He realized he could not move the control stick forward and therefore could not control the gyroplane. He rejected the takeoff by reducing power, the gyroplane veered to the left, and the rotor struck the runway. Subsequently, the gyroplane rolled onto its left side, skidded down the runway, exited the left side of the runway, and impacted a snowbank.
The gyroplane sustained substantial damage to the rotor system and fuselage.
The pilot reported that he removed the rotor blade by removing the center pivoting bolt, and in doing so, the rotor head moved forward and freed the stick.
The Federal Aviation Administration sent two inspectors to examine the gyroplane. During the visit, the rotor head moved freely in all directions with no evidence of binding or restriction, and no discrepancies were noted with the torque tube or cabling in the keel tube. The brake and trim controls were also moved in various sequences and control positions, but there were no discrepancies found. The FAA inspector added that, with an inadvertent and or unnoticed activation of full aft trim prior to beginning the takeoff roll, there could be enough resistance created to generate the conditions the pilot experienced.
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to maintain directional control during a rejected takeoff. Contributing to the accident was the binding of the control stick, for an undetermined reason, which precipitated the rejected takeoff.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record GAA18CA179
- Event ID
- 20180326X21650
- Case number
- GAA18CA179
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
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, coordinates. 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: 92e6304e5732d68abb69f03e35385e17c84b780b9b9b5179d23922b70e74cb3b; retrieved 2026-09-16T06:43:20.050Z.