Early A&S 18 accident

[gyroplanes]

I found this photo on ebay the other day.
I had heard about this local accident many years ago. It occurred in 1965 at a Air & Space dealership in Hobart, IN.

I was told, by a credible eyewitness, that the "student" pilot with 4 hrs gyro time, took up the gyro for a maintenance test flight without permission.

According to the eyewitness (an FAA flight examiner) the gyro skidded on final after an overshoot and slipped lower into some trees. I believe Don Farrington told me this was the accident that lead to the "V" on the A&S windshield and the performance limitations.

Reportedly, the pilot fell from the gyro and landed on pavement. He was seriously injured and actually died several days later (long enough that the FAA doesn't count the crash as a fatality)

The picture was taken at the scene and was a news photo seen in a Chicago paper.

[WaspAir]

Here's the report:

http://www.ntsb.gov/aviationquery/brief.aspx?ev_id=73341&key=0

I assume that the "performance limitations" you are describing is the yaw limit.

For those unfamiliar, the windshield "V" is a guide to prevent over-banking.

[JAL]

How do you fall from a gyro?

Does that mean he wasn't wearing his harness or I wonder if it failed? I would thought that might be a contributing factor.

Looking at the photo if the pilot remained in side the aircraft he wold have survived all right.

[WaspAir]

The 18A has a single door on the right side with a latch/lock and a moderately high sill. In the photo, you can see it folded open by the nose. The latch is behind the front pilot (easier to reach from the back seat than from the front). The front seat slides fore and aft on rails for pedal distance adjustment and for egress. It helps to slide the seat all the way back before getting in/out.

It's not all that easy to climb out through that door gracefully (much less fall), and the aircraft has seat belts, so we're apparently not getting the whole story here.

[gyroplanes]

My eyewitness flight examiner died before Don Farrington did and the airport is now a joke. I am out of resources. I might take the picture with me and try contacting some locals next spring. Mysteries drive me crazy.

[WaspAir]

Maybe it hung up in the trees long enough for the poor fellow to try getting out of the aircraft, and he fell from there.

[karlbamforth]

Maybe it cartwheeled and he was thrown from the aircraft.

[Scary Gary]

Who was the flight examiner?
Bob?

[Kevin Morris]

My grandfather brought both the Umbaugh 18-A and McCulloch J-2 brochures to me when I was young. He was a GOOD grandpa!

Would someone familiar with the "V" and the need for the mentioned limitations please explain.

I saw one fly at Oshkosh. It looked very stately after an honest jump takeoff.

[WaspAir]

The V on the windshield is a simple pair of paint or tape stripes to indicate 45 degrees of bank (when the stripe is on the horizon, you're at 45 degrees). Exceeding that is not recommended.
The aircraft has a great deal of surface area below the c.g., and if yawed significantly out of trim, has a tendency to roll in the opposite direction ("adverse roll with yaw"). It becomes more challenging to coordinate well at very steep bank angles.

The flight manual says:

TURNS - UNDER NORMAL CONDITIONS, BANK ANGLE SHOULD BE LIMITED TO 45 DEGREES. CARE SHOULD BE EXERCISED IN LARGER BANK ANGLES TO COORDINATE THE TURN BY REFERENCE TO THE BALL INDICATOR. MARKS ARE PROVIDED ON THE WINDSHIELD TO INDICATE A 45 DEGREE BANK.