A preliminary investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board said a rotor came off a gyrocopter prior to the aircraft’s July 30 crash into a goat field near Melrose. Both the flight instructor on board and the pilot under instruction were killed in the crash.
“Examination of the gyroplane revealed that the majority of the front and rear cockpits had been consumed by a post-crash fire,” the report said. “Examination of the rotor system revealed that one rotor blade was missing.”
The report added that the missing rotor blade was found four days after the crash, about 312 feet from the main wreckage. The NTSB will issue a final report on the incident later.
More on this story later from the Telegraph-Times-Monitor.