A main blade that fell off a homebuilt gyroplane is what appears to have led to a July 30 crash that killed the flight instructor and pilot in a goat pasture in Clay County, according to a preliminary National Transportation Safety Board report.

The Tango 2 gyroplane burst into flames after the 10 a.m. crash near County Road 214 and Melrose Road. The man and woman on board the open two-seater died at the scene, according to the Florida Highway Patrol report. Their names and ages were not released.

The Tango 2 is a tandem aircraft with a rear-mounted engine and pusher propeller, and a free-spinning twin rotor overhead that provides the lift when in motion. The Tango 2 manufacturer's website said the aircraft uses a Yamaha three-cylinder engine for the rear propeller, with an aluminum 18-gallon fuel tank. The overhead rotor blades span 28 feet. 

Examination of the rotor system revealed that one overhead rotor blade was missing when investigators checked the wreck, the NTSB report states.

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"Further examination revealed that the missing blade had separated about 2 inches outboard of the blade grip, and its associated teeter stop [droop stop] was bent in a downward direction," the report said. "... On August 3 the missing rotor blade was discovered in a wooded area about 312 feet east-northeast from the main wreckage."

The aircraft was registered in 2017 based at Melrose Landing Airport, a private single-runway field in Hawthorne.

The flight instructor and pilot lived in a hangar apartment at the airfield and also had two other airplanes there that they would fly, the NTSB said. Review of pilot logbooks indicated that the pilot had ratings for single-engine and instrument airplanes, but none for gyroplanes. The flight instructor was certified with endorsements for single-engine planes and gyroplanes. The logbooks indicated the woman had about nine hours of instruction.

The couple flew out of Melrose Landing Airport at an unknown time. After the departure, witnesses saw the gyroplane flying around the area, one telling the NTSB investigators that it passed over a local auto parts store, while another said it was flying at about 30 mph.

Just prior to the crash, a witness saw the gyroplane circling around the area, then objects began “falling from the sky," he told investigators.

"The gyroplane then went down and he could see smoke," the report said. "He advised that 'it did not autorotate; it went down."

Autorotating is when a helicopter or autogyro's main rotor spins without power, a situation that can still provide some lift and allow a pilot to glide into a landing.

Most of its cockpit was consumed by the fire that erupted after the crash, which embedded the left main landing gear in the ground, the report said.

Clay County Fire Rescue put out the blaze, Sheriff Michelle Cook said.

"It does appear to be one heroic last action by the pilot," Cook told news partner First Coast News of the pilot's last minutes of flight.

"Where the crash site is located is between a small barn and a house," Cook said. "This could have been a much more tragic story if the gyrocopter had crashed into the house. ... It does appear that there was at least an attempt to avoid the house that was there."

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The NTSB report said the overhead rotor hub was intact, and would rotate and tilt as it should have in flight when checked post-crash. The three-blade pusher propeller's hub remained attached, two blades broken off by impact, with no evidence of damage to its clutch. The engine, although fire damaged, appeared intact as well, the report said.

No date for the final report is indicated by NTSB.