Beverly Gyroplane Crash: Pilot Confirmed Dead After Aircraft Crashes
A 66-year-old man who was piloting a small gyroplane when it crashed shortly after takeoff from Beverly Regional Airport on Sunday has died, officials confirmed.
Federal officials are investigating the crash, which occurred around 11:40 a.m. Sunday, according to the Beverly Police Department. Mike Boccuzzi, the department’s public information officer, said the pilot, the aircraft’s only occupant when it crashed, was critically injured and transported to Beverly Hospital after first responders pulled him from the wreckage.
The pilot, who has not yet been publicly identified, has since died, a spokesperson for the Essex District Attorney’s Office said. He was a resident of Manchester-by-the-Sea, Boccuzzi said.
On Sunday afternoon, the National Transportation Safety Board said it was aware of the crash and investigating its cause. The Federal Aviation Administration was also investigating, according to Boston television station WCVB.
A gyroplane is a light aircraft powered forward by a propellor engine that achieves lift as wind hits its helicopter-like rotor blades.
The incident marked the second aircraft crash of the weekend in Massachusetts.
On Saturday, a Falmouth man was killed and his wife was seriously injured when their propellor plane crashed at Falmouth Airpark as they returned home from Westfield.
Carl Willis, 83, was killed, according to the Massachusetts State Police. Candace Oldham, 70, was brought to Rhode Island Hospital with serious injuries.
The couple was returning from a short day trip with several other couples, who also flew their own planes, state police spokesperson David Procopio said. They left Westfield-Barnes Regional Airport at 2:22 p.m. and crashed around 3:10 p.m. into a grassy area adjacent to a runaway at Falmouth Airpark.
The crash is also under investigation by the FAA and the NTSB.
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