AutoGyro MTOsport crash near Al Jazirah Airport, Ras Al Khaimah, Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates

The pilot was scheduled for his third solo flight, taking his briefing from the instructor by telephone on arrival at the club. After pre-flight checks and magneto checks he lined up on runway 28. CCTV recorded the gyroplane beginning its take-off roll; forty-six seconds later it entered a steep vertical climb, and two seconds after that struck the runway, veered left and came to rest on the sand. The pilot climbed out unaided with a leg injury requiring stitches. The investigation determined the cause was improper take-off handling: sudden rotor lift and a nose-up attitude combined with rotor mismanagement caused a roll to the left and ground impact, resulting from inadequate control technique and possible confusion with fixed-wing operations. Contributing factors were his continuing to fly fixed-wing while training on gyroplanes, a lack of structured ground school materials with reliance on self-study, and the briefing being conducted by phone with the instructor unavailable on the radio and no dual flight briefing before the solo was authorised.