RotorWay A600 Talon crash near Karise, Zealand, Denmark

The flight was a test of an amateur-built RotorWay A600 Talon. Pre-flight checks showed 6 to 8 knots from the northwest, close to the 8-knot recommended limit for the test. The pilot agreed with his co-builder to go light on the skids and, conditions permitting, to hover between two landing fields about 65 metres apart. Having flown the first leg northwest and landed, he took off again and began the downwind hover back. Approaching the southeast field he started turning the nose left into wind, and found the wind catching the tailplane more than expected with the helicopter turning too fast. Correcting with cyclic and pedals, he felt the aircraft go out of control at about 1.5 metres and elected to put it down, expecting a hard landing. It banked right during touchdown, the right skid and the main rotor contacting the ground almost together, and it rolled abruptly onto its right side. The investigation concluded the pilot's limited training and experience on type, with the prevailing wind, led to loss of control, and the low altitude left no room to recover.