Amateur-built Tango2 accident near Cedartown, Georgia, November 4, 2019

The NTSB's narrative final · quoted from the NTSB record

The pilot was performing a test flight to mitigate a vibration in the gyroplane. When the pilot did not return within the expected timeframe a friend alerted authorities and went to look for him. The wreckage was located about 2.5 miles from the departure airport in a cotton field where it came to rest inverted about 15 ft beyond the initial impact point. Examination of the wreckage revealed that there were no anomalies with the gyroplane that would have precluded normal operation prior to the accident. Toxicology testing identified sertraline and its metabolite desmethylsertraline, atorvastatin, and metoprolol in blood and urine. The pilot’s medications were unlikely to have resulted in impairment and therefore most likely did not contribute to the accident The pilot’s autopsy revealed severe coronary artery disease with a previous stent and severe ongoing stenosis in the left anterior descending coronary artery. While there was no obvious scar, no microscopic evaluation of the heart muscle was performed, so whether there was evidence of previous or ongoing ischemia could not be determined. However, the severity of his coronary artery disease placed him at increased risk of an acute cardiac event that could have resulted in sudden chest pain, shortness of breath, palpitations, or fainting, any of which could have been acutely impairing or incapacitating. But in this case, there is no available operational information; therefore, whether effects from the pilot’s coronary artery disease contributed to this accident could not be determined.

The complete narrative as the NTSB published it. The NTSB's docket holds the report as a PDF and any photographs, statements and other documents from the investigation.