So, who's the idiot now.....:(

[birdy]

Had a very 'different' day yesterday.

It started the same as usual, happily chasen cows about for bout 6 hours, with all the regular things happening. Sum critters not wanting to play the game, tempers getn heated, time run'n out.............. just another 'day at the office'.
But things turned bad suddenly wen your's truely went to sleep.:mad:
The pressure was on but we were win'n. I just needed a quick fuel top up. This last tank full woulda seen the day out easily, if i hadn't stuffed it up:mad: .
Was approching the fuel drum the same way i have a thousand times before. Down wind, at bout 6' off the ground, 60K AS. The drum was on an open plain big enough to land a 747 on, only the odd tree here n there, a fuel drum and another machine. There was, however, one bigger tree only bout 40' from the drum. IOW, absolutly no hazards anywhere, except in the pilot's seat of my gyro.:rolleyes:
I'v been getn spooked by COMPLACENCY for the last few hundred hours, and it finaly bit yesterday. As i said, the approche was as normal, but the setting wasn't. I'd broken my own number one golden ruel. I'd closed all the gates.
I'd cornered myself with no second options IF sumthn went wrong.
And, as Murphy would have it, sumthn did happen. Half way round the 180* turn onto the drum, with low AS and NO alt to spare, i hit a small pocket of dead air. I knew instantly wot i'd just done. I had no real options coz i didn't give meself any.
I had 3 ways to go. 1; turn back down wind and try again.
Not a good one at ground level with low AS and not being able to hit power coz the one and only tree was in the way. Any adition of power would have shot me streight into it.
2; hit full power and hope the dead spot in the air was only very small, continue round and land with no roll, no AS and full noise.
Not a good option either, coz murphy was there, and as in option one, any adition of power would have had me shot into the tree.
3; steepen the bank, THEN add power and pull it off like nuthn happened.
Well, i had bout a milli second to decide, so i decided on 3.
Trouble is, to steepen the bank WITHOUT power would mean the blades would be getn very close to the ground.
Yes, you gessed it.
Two loud 'smacks' in quick succession, the stick nearly getn riped out me hand, and i knew i had stuffed it up.
F&%&*% idiot was the first thing to come to mind.:rolleyes:
Second was that i was still off the ground and i sort of had control. DON"T STOP FLYN THE BASTERED.
See'n as i had missed THAT tree, and now had plenty o room, i ripped the, now violently shakeing stick back to right the machine and sortof land, sideways, just manageing to keep it up right with wot rotor lift i had left.

I don't know wether ol mates got alota faith in me or if he's some sorta fool, but the first thing he said to me wen i took the headset off was "spose you'll have t take mine now ay":D
After a quick talk, just to make sure i heard him right, i was off in his machine for the next 3 hours and we finished up with just enough day light to fly home, and bout 1500 critters in the yard.;)

Damage;
One rotor totaled
one control rod compressed
mast slightly bent
And one badly damaged pride.:o

Is it a coincidence?
Only bout 2 months back i started a thread bout 'the 3 phases of flyn', and warning of the worst stage, the complacency stage.
And whos the first moron to get bit?.
F&^%$ idiot.:mad:

Coulda been alot worse, but that don't excuse it from happening in the first place.:(

Only one mistake, i'd gotn meself into a position were i had NO OPTIONS if sumthn changed, caused by complacency.
[I'v been do'n this alot lately, i was getn complacent.............it was only a matter of time]

Only one idiot to blame.:mad:

[brett s]

Glad you had the balls to share that so others can learn, many wouldn't - and also glad you're still here to do so!

Sometimes lessons in aviation are expensive, you won't be that last to get complacent. It's tough when you're doing the same thing day after day & get pretty decent at it.

I was lucky enough to just scare myself rather than bend the helicopter in a similar situation caused by the exact same thing, leaving no margin for error & got a gust of wind at the wrong time. It was a very close thing, another ag pilot was watching & he thought for sure I'd bought it :)

[dragonflyerthom]

Birdie

It could have been worst. You could not be posting this thread. How much will it cost you to repair it. May be what you needed to get out of complacency. We will be waiting to hear your progress.

Thom

[animal]

Birdy, just Glad you are ok and still with us to Fly another day. your ship can always be rebuilt. to be honest,seeing the kind of flying you have to do,I am suprised you have not had any ground strikes before.

Fly safe and keep us informed on the rebuild.

[Chopper Reid]

Have been close to doing the same thing but flying a heavier gyro I HAVE to make sure I got a way out all the time !! Cant go to sleep :)
Anyway, you probably needed a new head bearing and new rod ends all round !!

How dare that tree be right in your way !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Timchick]

Brdy, Glad to hear it wasn't any worse and you're OK.

[gyromike]

Birdy,

Sorry to hear about the damage to your machine, but damn glad you weren't hurt.
Don't be too hard on yourself. You had the balls to fess up to how it happened, and already figured out how to avoid it next time.

It could've been a lot worse.

Hopefully we'll all learn from it.

[Aussie_Paul]

Tanks Birdy for that blow by blow description of your f*** *p (technical word for mishap)!!!

You would have been dead in any other aircrft.

Gates closed or back doors not open is frought with danger if, and or when, things go wrong.

IMHO complacency of pilots, who operate aircraft on a daily basis, is the number one machine and people wrecker. I have had my share of stupid bending of machines due to this phenonomen. Every time I say I will not let it happen again.

It is a bastard being human, isn't it?

Glad you were/are ok to fly the same, and other days.

Aussie Paul.:)

[PW_Plack]

Birdy,

Glad (1) you're OK (2) the blades mostly held together upstream from the strikes (3) you have another machine to fly.

[RockyMeLad]

Thanks for sharing, Birdy!
You're still an inspiration to us newbies.
Glad you're still doing what needs doing.

[mceagle]

Looks like you might have to buy a bigger block of land Birdy, or one where the ground is a bit lower. There have been quite a few "complaincy" accidents with high hour pilots - you are not alone.
I will list a few here as soon as I get a minute.

[PTKay]

To be honest, Birdy, after watching your great video,
I started really worrying about you...

I have seen how great you can fly the machine, but I have also seen
the few feet, or (as it sometimes looked like) few inches clearence
between the balades and the ground.

I have been flying some TV team recently at my airport, where I did
hundreds of landing in my "tin parachute", and this time something
exactly same hit me on last 200 ft final from the back and down...

If not for the automatic slats, which hit in immediately, i would have been
biting dust 100 ft before the treshhold...

I had a 3000ft runway in front of me, and due to the slats
time enough to hit the power and land safely...

On a hot day, you never know, where another "hot bulb"
or "twister" will hit you...

Good for you, and thanks for posting...

[StanFoster]

Birdy: I respect you writing about your incident as much as I respect your very high skill level flying your gyros. I try to follow all your posts as they are so freakin interesting. Unfortunately this time I had to read you damaged some parts and some pride.

Your line of work has you down operating on the edge constantly and the amount of time you spend doing this just goes to keeping Murphys law true.

You are a superior pilot and it has taken these extra skills to stay out of trouble for as long as you have.

Complacency is a by-product of continued incident free flying that you have been maintaining for so long. Eventually it won out....but now you will be an even better pilot for it.

I think more of you for telling this story as I know you could have easily kept it "down under" But it shows you are an open and honest guy and I really respect that.

Now...go muster some of those nasty cattle.:D

Stan

[Chuck Roberg]

Birdy, you have my utmost respect. Thanks for sharing.

[Paul_Zurawski]

Birdy..thanks for sharing the info...glad you were not hurt. Low altitude turns have smited alot of pilots, gyros, fixed wingers, etc. What I explain to my UL pilot friends is setting up a stabilized approach corridor on final. In the airliner, we have to be in the landing config by 1000ft agl. In the gyro, I use 100ft. If I am not lined up with my touchdown spot, on glidepath, on airspeed by time I hit 100ft agl, automatic go around. By following this procedure to the letter, it keeps me away from off the deck, low a/s turns.

[dragonflyerthom]

Paul as you say 100 ft agl. Birdy flies at 20 feet agl. He has to manage the rrpm and as all the time. I am glad and I think you are too that he is here to tell the tale.

Thom

[Screw]

Screw-In

Good Lord Birdy. Did I understand that you entered a hard bank low and slow to such a degree you got into blade a strike (at least two) .........And you still managed to land?

1. You are a God.

2. I wanna see some pictures.

3. Dude in the Wanted section is looking for stuffed up blades. Maybe you could autograph them.

4. Glad you didn't get hurt.

Screw-Out

[Hognose]

Second was that i was still off the ground and i sort of had control. DON"T STOP FLYN THE BASTERED.


Amen. Bob Hoover once said, "Fly it all the way into the crash... don't stop flying till all the parts are done crashing."

For someone that done bad you then done good, Dave Bird.

Best thing your mate ever did was lend you that gyro. If you hadn't gone right up the recriminations that are going through your mind now and causing you to call yourself names, would have seriously played with your self-confidence by the time you got back in the saddle. In the military we used to always get a survivor of a jump or aircraft accident back up in the air ASAP. A buddy of mine survived an entanglement in September '81 that killed the other cat, and the Boss had him up in a helicopter, throwing him out, as soon as the docs cleared him that afternoon. Conversely, I have not had a parachute harness on since my accident in '04 and probably will not ever make an intentional parachute jump again. Three months in a cast sucked and that's the part I remember....

You made a mistake. You damaged a machine. It was unintentional. Hell, that's why we call 'em accidents.

And I bet the cows didn't **** with you after that.

Thanks for posting this, and harping on complacency. It's a common thread in the premature end of too many flying careers.

cheers

-=K=-

[gyro]

Birdy, glad your ok. that Ol saying comes to mind WE LEARN FROM OUR MISTAKES, but doggone a flying machine in not the place.

About how far did you you stay airborn after the strike?


upload some pics:eek: we all want to see;)

Cheers

[birdy]

to be honest,seeing the kind of flying you have to do,I am suprised you have not had any ground strikes before.
To be honest Tim, i'v felt this comn for along time, I knew i was getn sloppy.
My biggest problem is that it DIDN"T scare me the slightest, so ol mate complacency will still be there next time.:(

Complacency is a by-product of continued incident free flying that you have been maintaining for so long. Eventually it won out....but now you will be an even better pilot for it.
Your spoton Stan, and i hope your right. I needed a kick in the ass, i was getn lazy. Just hopen this kick was hard enough.
Now...go muster some of those nasty cattle.
They'er already shaken Stan;)

Your a crackup Screw:)

Best thing your mate ever did was lend you that gyro.
I was supprised he did too Kevin, he had just watched me smack the ground with my blades, then offered me his machine to finish off.[ his near new, only 50 hours old 912s rosco machine]. He did say tho that he was stuffed after 6 hours and didn't know where i'd left the cattle anyway , so i had to go. I hadn't spent the last 6 hours getn them together just to let um go coz i hit the ground.

About how far did you you stay airborn after the strike?
Not long Gyro, but the machine would have splatted on its side if i'd let go. Cept for the bent blade and a gash ina ground, theres not alot to see.

I recon, now that i'v thought bout it sum, that this woulda been a good safty/controlability of gyros flic if there was a camera there. Wot other machine could you bend one wing back and up at bout 20*, damage the control system, bend the main frame, loose most of you 'flyn' rrpm and still have enough controlability to safely land it without any further damage:)

Ordered parts this mor'n, will be in town ina week, will be mobile in ten days.
Takes alot more n a little blade strike to gorund the ferel for too long:)

[dragonflyerthom]

Birdie

Do the cattle travel around is small groups? Do you have to gather them up in those groups.? I know my horses stay togeather in a band all of the time.

Just wondering

Thom

[gyro]

Way to go Birdy..." Ordered parts this mor'n, will be in town ina week, will be mobile in ten days.".....Git R Done:D

[Rehan K.Janjua]

Hello Birdy.

Sorry to hear this, but mighty happy you are OK.

A/C or gyros can be replaced or repaired but its the human contant thats important. Specially some one like you.

Thanks for posting as we all are learning.
Take care of yourself, we need you.

Best wishes.
Rehan

[RICK MARTIN]

Birdy,

It's redundant at this point, but I also would like to express my thanks for sharing your experience. To any of us here who have gotten to know you and what you do, it is a very valuable lesson. And as they say, knowledge is power. If it results in only one episode in one pilot's life where he thinks twice before "leaving no options" ,then you have done a great service.

[M. Pearce]

birdy,

No comment on your movie star status! Just glad your still with us!

If I flew like you do my wife would have all kinds of freakin insurrance on me. I'd surely be worth more dead than alive!

Anyway, now you get a chance to make her better than she was before. Get some of your buddies to pitch in fer all that free cattle musterin you been doin fer um.

Gitemup birdy!

[J-SiN]

Pics Pics Pics

[bones]

Pics Pics Pics
Holy crap do you think your signature pictures are big enough there J-SIN?

[bones]

To be honest, Birdy, after watching your great video,
I started really worrying about you...

I have seen how great you can fly the machine, but I have also seen
the few feet, or (as it sometimes looked like) few inches clearence
between the balades and the ground.

I just picked this one out of many replies,(Not to pick on you Paul) that were mostly alike, it still amazes me that people dont understand that to us it is our JOB, its like me watching an air Force jet do some moves, it is very stimulating to watch, but i dont say that looks dangerous, or he/she has a death wish, it was what he/she was trained for, so the same for us we dont get our licences(some of us didnt even do that) and the next day start to do the stuff in the videos, it takes time to work out how far you need to pull up from a dive, how much height and speed you loose on a sharp bank, what you think the wind/air will be like on the other side of those trees that front front wheel just touched, yes that happens alot(feel it thorugh the peddles) and then after a long while, and inch or soo seems like a foot, so it becomes EASIER not EASY,, but then sometimes as Birdy said he just stuffed up, human thing to do..

[dragonflyerthom]

AAAHHHH
the smell of fresh cut tree tops in the morning.

You are soo right Mark

Thom

[ben]

birdy,

i'm glad all turned out well for ya

[Chopper Reid]

Birdie

Do the cattle travel around is small groups? Do you have to gather them up in those groups.? I know my horses stay togeather in a band all of the time.

Just wondering

Thom

Cows can be found from anywhere from 1 to any number. Depends on lots of stuff, like if they are calving, how many waters in the paddock, whether there is more feed in one part of the paddock eg a localized thunderstorm over a small area so there are many things that can dictate the average size of a mob.

Sheep and goats mob up if theres plenty of feed but split up close to lambing.

[mceagle]

Birdy, Birdy, Birdy.
You stuffed up, but no one knows it more than you. I do not think anyone can chastise you more than you have yourself.
Glad you were not hurt. I suspect a shot of Queensland diesel would have been the order of the day that evening.

[PW_Plack]

Tim, is that that part ethanol? (Like, 80 proof?) ;)

[PW_Plack]

Birdy, do you find, after 3K hours of mustering, that you tend to fly aggressively all the time, even during routine tasks such as going for fuel? I would imagine that high-risk technique could become a habit, and would be most likely to bite when the concentration required to chase the critters let up for a bit.

[Chopper Reid]

Birdy, do you find, after 3K hours of mustering, that you tend to fly aggressively all the time, even during routine tasks such as going for fuel? I would imagine that high-risk technique could become a habit, and would be most likely to bite when the concentration required to chase the critters let up for a bit.

I'm no Birdy:cool: but when I'm coming back for fuel, I'm thinking and planning what I have to do in the next 4 hours, where the cattle are going to be and what the and where will the ground crew be when I get back to the muster so landing and refuelling are not something I think about normally. I'm probably been busting for a leak since I took off nearly 4 hours ago:D :D :D and thinking about a drink of water if its hot or a coffee if the weather is cold [all adding to the busting for a leak pain ]

There are times when I got to be back ASAP, I tend to fly low and as fast as my gyro will let me, scenery going past quick seems to make you think you are going faster than up at 500 feet !!

When you are working, your concentration is full on and when you stop working I relax.

[Chopper Reid]

By the way Birdy, I can afford to be cheeky as I've done 2 sets:p :p

[birdy]

You stuffed up,
Thanx for the reminder Tim;)
I suspect a shot of Queensland I could NEARLY blame that poison for the stuffup ina first place:)

Birdy, do you find, after 3K hours of mustering, that you .........
Paul, in all honesty, i avoid agressive flyn, its too stressful on me and the machine. It just seemsw to LOOK stressfull for the ground.[ life is too short to be bothered stressn.]
Once things become 'second nature', theres no stress involved, thats why all i can blame for this stuffup is complaicency, and i caused that.

Good t see we're only human ay Brian;)

I just returned from 9 hours of mustern in sum pretty crappy air[ 55 knot winds and dust you couldn't see through at the foot hills of the Dulcy Ranges], in ol mates machine, and am happy to report there was no 'incidents', cept for a fresh coat o fine bulldust on his once shiney new machine:)

[Chopper Reid]

Well, I wont say anything about the 30 knot winds here yesterday.

[birdy]

Woulda blown y dog off its chain Brian:)
And it hasn't blown a breath since;)

[Cobra Doc]

Birdy, ever since you started this thread I've been payin' a lot more attention to how I ride. Thank you for the reminder. Today I was paying attention. A minivan made a right turn at a red light on me. Before I elaborate, I hate minivans. As a group they are the worst, rudest, most inattentive, sorriest sacks of bullhockey on the road. Cell phones just exacerbate the problem. Back to the tale. The white line is like country road for my skinny little 500, so I took it. Cellphone momma and her box of brats didn't give me a shot at the bike lane. (I figure if you go behind 'em they can't get you!!) The car behind me must not have read your post on complacency. He didn't have room to move left so he had to try to squeeze through. He almost made it. The bumper facia came off the minivan and I had to watch in my mirror to make sure it wasn't chasing me. I also happened to see the cop behind the minivan hit the blues before the bumper hit the ground. I figured with an expert witness like that around I wasn't needed. Besides I probably would have said something bordering on rude to the woman that tried to kill me and the several kids with her had I stopped. I'm amazed how many really stupid accidents happen at that one intersection since the cop-shop is only half a block away and there is a, uhmm...don't want to be stereotypical, bakery, yah, that's it, a bakery right there on the corner. In my long history of riding that's the second time I got through and the vehicle behind me didn't. It was almost three, but the guy last June got his F-350 dually diesel with a full 6 horse trailer stopped just in time. No horses were injured in that bit of stupidity. I know, I stopped and helped check on them. Cellphone blondie with her way-over-priced-never-gonna-see-dirt luxury Jap SUV got really mad when I explained to the 8 year-old in curls that mommie cared only about herself and tried to kill six horsies.

[dragonflyerthom]

Cody that is a good one.

Thom

[Chopper Reid]

Mobile phones [cell phones] have created a new problem in road crashes and deaths over here, the amount of people, apparently women, regularly text while driving in traffic.

The amount of crashes has jumped dramatically. Just goes to show that people are only too willing to find another way to kill people.