That particular accident "pilot" actually had purchased his Vortex from an estate, where the previous owner had passed away from old age, after flying that gyro safely for many, many years.
He then let the gyro sit for many years @ his home B/4 finally deciding to learn to fly. He took Cessna 172 lessons until he felt ready to get gyro training. I tell people that tricycle gear airplane training is almost useless for learning to fly a gyroplane, other than getting comfortable in the airport environment. The control yoke, the lack of visibility outside from the cockpit, the dash mounted throttle knob that moves in the opposite direction that a gyroplane's throttle does, & the lack of very much needed rudder pedal action don't help @ all.
He then went to Airgyro in Utah for training. Took a week off from his job as a millwright. When he got back home, he rang me up, complaining that Michael Burton seemed too laid back, not training him more than an hour in the AM, and another in the PM, each day, in spite of the fact he had let MB know he only had a week to get his rating! I never met him in person, only having a couple of phone calls w/ him.
He then got ONE hour dual training w/ Jim Vanek, of Sport Copter. Neither CFI signed him off for solo work. He let his impatience get the better than him & he went out to the airport to start runways flights (not just taxying around!) One competent gyroplane pilot that was friends w/ him observed & was filming his first two runway flights. He related to me later that they were very poor landings. On the third RW flight, the guy tried to land, but apparently felt he needed to go around, since he was out of paved runway at that point.
On downwind, the expert witness mentioned in the NTSB report heard the high-rpms of the Rotax 582 engine flying by, exiting his hangar to see what was the cause of the noise. He observed the extreme nose-high attitude of the gyroplane, as it was descending(!), and was alarmed, as mentioned in the report. The witness is a very experienced helicopter, gyroplane, & airplane pilot.
The gyro disappeared into some tall fir trees near the south end of the airport, where it hit hard. The fellow filming had stopped doing so because the gyro was too far away (about a mile) to see it in his viewfinder. He reported that he heard a loud "Whack", and the gyro rapidly descending vertically out of sight into that tree area. Shortly after, black smoke rose up.
Other witnesses & the filming fellow drove over to see if they could help. The gyro was on fire, as well as the grassy area around. It was an extremely hot, summer day. The pilot was also on fire, and had been thrown about 15' away out of the seat. I never viewed the video taken, which also included the crash scene w/ everything still on fire. They attempted to put out the fire on the fellow, and could tell he was already gone.
The over-eager pilot had a wife & 8 children. I never saw the video. Didn't wish to. The person filming the video seemed to brag to me that he had promised the NTSB that he would not show the video to anyone other than them. A couple of weeks later he called me up, asking if I wanted to view it...