Ammon News - An 88-year-old Russian man, who gained local fame for building his own aircraft, has died after attempting to take off in a homemade helicopter.

The man, a resident of the Omutninsky district of western Russia’s Kirov Region, attempted the flight in the self-built aircraft on Thursday, the Volga Region Transport Prosecutor’s Office said in a news release Friday.

However, the helicopter self-destructed during take-off, it added.

The aircraft failed to lift off and, instead, “during engine startup, while still on the ground and as the engine power was building, the main rotor blades detached. This caused injuries to the pilot, born in 1937,” the district emergency services told Russian state-owned news agency RIA Novosti on Friday.

The man was taken to the Omutninsky District Hospital, the regional transport prosecutor’s office said. However, he died hours later, RIA Novosti reported.

The vehicle was unregistered and the circumstances of the incident are being investigated, the prosecutor’s office added.

RIA Novosti named the dead man as Vladimir Trapeznikov, citing law enforcement.

He was a self-taught inventor who dreamed as a child of becoming a pilot, according to local media and social media channels. CNN