Best deadstick landing ever

Racer

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 9, 2006
Messages
1,594
Location
Colorado Springs, Colorado USA
Aircraft
Air Command CLT N7512X
Ron Awad was flying with my girlfriend Dawn and did the best dead stick landing I have ever seen.

I will do my best to describe in words what I saw.
Ron and Dawn were basically hovering about 6 or 700ft directly above the runway when Ron asked the flight boss for permission to do a dead stick landing. Permission was granted and then you heard the Yamaha go completely silent.
the gyro's nose fell and started into a spiral straight down towards the runway, everyone in the bleachers where I was setting gasped not knowing that this maneuver was on purpose. Falling straight down in a beautiful spiral Ron pulled out at the perfect altitude and just hovered above the runway and gently touched down with a gentle kiss of the tires landing directly under where he started the maneuver.
The crowd went nuts with applause, that was the prettiest engine out I have ever seen ever.
Did anyone catch this on video by chance?
 
I have said it once and will say it again. Ron is truly the master of his machine. he flys it enough to know every move it will make.

I would have loved to have seen this. I am also kind of suprised there has not been more videos from Mentone, like it was from Bensen days.

maybe people have not recovered yet from it to have time to get them uploaded.
 
Racer, I witnessed this but I thought the engine was still running....I know he has a cluth and it was disengaged so it simulated the same thing.

Doug G was next to me and had his video camera you might ask him.

The Landing was sweet and Ron gave me the eye that he was fixen to turn around after he taxied into the grass (I gave him the thumbs up).....I was in my chain behind the line and it pert near blew me over and sent my hat flyn.....Yea Ha!!!

Get to know your machine Todd and you can master those DS landings.
 
Racer, I witnessed this but I thought the engine was still running....I know he has a cluth and it was disengaged so it simulated the same thing.

QUOTE]

I saw him start the engine after the landing, it was a real dead stick all the way to the ground.
 
Yaw Mon! That was the first landing I ever experienced in my life with Ron and we got to do it again at Benson Days. I'm convinced that's just a normal landing, isn't it? I have more time doing those landing than any other so far. What you talk'n about Willis?

I thought I had weaseled a ride with Ron. Turned out my friends here, had suggested he take me up and scare the heck out of me!
They didn't know I wanted to see what one would do at the edge of the flight envelope and with Ron and my 1st ride I FOUND OUT!
The only thing that was normal was the takeoff and short cruse to a farmers field where we zoom down so low to the field I could have audited the insect life and were not just cursing over a field were flying through a maze of rolls of hay raped in plastic. Zig Zaging with such precision that it felt exactly like being on a bike but without the bumps! Wow, can't get better than this, when Zoom up over a a stand of short trees and right back down and flying through a channel, it couldn't get any better than that right.
Wrong again John!
Then it back over the small tree line and over the field we were just racing through at maybe 25'. Going straight for a very tall stand of tree. At 100 yards I'm thinking these trees are pretty tall he's going to have to starting climbing anytime now. (Pre-Todd motor back then)
But no, at 50 yards we're still at 25' and heading right for them. OK heck but he'll have to start turning then by at least 100 feet away, like I would in an underpowered FW. But wrong again John. At about 40' from the crash I was thinking when he tries to turn a 90 this close we're going to do an accelerated stall right into the trees and I'm going to unhook my seat belt and push myself off of the frame jump to the ground and run from the falling wreckage. Funny I still wasn't really nervous just making plans for what I was sure about to be the outcome.
But them he pulls a 90 like it was on roller coaster track. Not only that but he could keep making the turn as long a he kept pulling back on the stick. Oh I finally get it!!!

Next words out of my mouth was Yaw Mon, lets do that again!!!!!

I'm in heaven and hooked beyond compare at this point.
After flying all over and chasing a few dear that I could have touched it Ron want us to we headed back for the landing and a little disappointed that it can't get better than this and then....

As we are on a very short base he pulls the power. Very cool, and I say something stupid like wow we're hovering? Ron says no John look down. Were doing a very slow vertical decent. Oh man it can't get any better than this yet another new featured discovered.
And THEN he press full right rudder and pointed her to the ground in an inverted barrel row. WOW!!!! WOW!! WOW! At about 90 feet he just straightens her out and proceeds to make perfect non roll landing on the grass exactly abeam of the edge of the runway.

I cheeriest my memories of flying with Ron and can't thank him enough!!!

Can't wait until the next ride with him!
 
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I got some video of a deadstick landing when Ron was alone. No passenger on this video.

Doug
 
John you were lucky. My first ride was the tamest thing going. Problem was because I was doing the flying while the instructor talked me through.

Have a feeling that he was also on the stick, and I didn't know how to do all that good stuff, but it worked just the same .

Hooked!!!

Yup Ron looks a pretty mean stick.
 
Man you guys sure tell some tall stories! I would be pissing my pants if I ever did those kinds of things flying! :)


Racer, thanks for the nice words about my flying, but I do have to correct ya on one point.... I never did a true engine out landing at the event. I did do many with the engine at full idle which with the clutch is just the same, but it is kinda dangerous to truely cut the ignition, as you never know if or when you might need the power to get outta someones way you didn't see, or to cushion a landing if you came in too slow or flared too high.

Hope Dawn liked her rides, it would be cool to see her get the gyro bug and become a gyro pilot herself.
 
@Leigh
I am lucky and grateful!!!

Man you guys sure tell some tall stories! I would be pissing my pants if I ever did those kinds of things flying! :)
Yea right buddy???????:wave:
 
........ I did do many with the engine at full idle which with the clutch is just the same, ..........

Ron,
a turning prop ( windmilling on a free clutch) produces drag. A stopped prop has less drug so performance ( GENERALLY ON GYRO) improves and pilot tents to overshoot a bit....... at least this is how "G1sa Genesis" performs.

I wish somebody videoed it because you fly impressively.
 
Nicolas, with his clutch, the prop is free to windmill whether the engine is at idle or completely off. In either case, it will be turning, hence no difference in drag for his particular machine.
 
Nicolas, with his clutch, the prop is free to windmill whether the engine is at idle or completely off. In either case, it will be turning, hence no difference in drag for his particular machine.

Yes you are right on that point. Ron's gyro will perform the same either way. I didn't think before writing the above post.
A gyro with out clutch though performs better glides than a gyro with.
 
The best deadstick landing ever is the one you make with an actual engine failure. And you are able to walk away uninjured and no damage to the aircraft.
 
THanks Chuck, that makes me feel a little better, after 2 of those this summer. THe first one I had, 2007, freaked me out pretty bad, and the end result showed it. THe second one (2009) was not so scary and no problem. THe third one, last month, was like "Oh well, here we go again", just another walk in the park so to speak. I guess it just takes a little getting used to the sudden silence back there.

Well, I hope when the time comes someone can teach me how to do the corkscrew dead-stick landings. THey sure would come in handy at times. For now I just nose it down and gli-i-i-i-de it in, basically at the mercy of the drafts and winds, and whatever I can see in front and to the sides.

I like Ron's (and others, mind you) ability to better control the landing spot using this maneuver. I think I need to practice these tight turns with an instructor, at altitude.

I mentioned the quick, tight turn as a "Look around" at the very first onset of engine failure, during the emergency landings seminar at Mentone. The response was that you lose too much precious altitude, and you should always be aware of your suroundings. I don't agree that this is always an accurate assessment of the LZ around you.

WHen the engine quits, you are missing at least 100 degrees of what is below and just behind you. Unless you have a photographic memory and can perfectly plan an approach, it seems like to me if you are anything above 500 ft you should have plenty of time/room to spin around 360 degrees, to get a nose-down attitude's aim at what is REALLY available to you at the moment, not just point and shoot for the first thing you see like I did when I picked a place that was less than desireable with my first engine out.
 
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The great thing I noticed is the diving turns really loads up the blades without gaining much real increase in airspeed, great for no roll landing.
 
Well, I hope when the time comes someone can teach me how to do the corkscrew dead-stick landings. THey sure would come in handy at times. For now I just nose it down and gli-i-i-i-de it in, basically at the mercy of the drafts and winds, and whatever I can see in front and to the sides. .

I've been practicing these for a while now. I'm fairly confident that I have them down enough to spiral straight down to a field below me and get it safely on the ground **in the conditions that I normally fly in**. I take off and land on a farm road with ditches on each side so if there is much chance of my encountering a cross wind and getting drifted off to the side, I don't fly. In those no wind conditions, the direction I'm pointed when I pull out in the relatively small field below me is basically irrelevant in a no wind condition.

What I'm NOT so confident would be having to do that maneuver for a VERY small field where the spiral would have to be done on the fringe (as opposed to the center) and pull out of the spiral as low as possible but yet still be going the correct direction needed for a safe landing to get it put down in a very small field.

I guess what I'm saying is... coming out of the spiral = no problem. Coming out of the spiral at a very tightly defined altitude = no problem. Coming out of the spiral going in the correct direction = no problem. Doing all 3 at the same time, I still have lots of practice because I probably get 50% of them right. 30% of them almost right and 20% of them "where the hell am I?". In a true deadstick landing, I would still only attempt the spiral as next to last right ahead of vertical descent all the way down.

WHen the engine quits, you are missing at least 100 degrees of what is below and just behind you. Unless you have a photographic memory and can perfectly plan an approach, it seems like to me if you are anything above 500 ft you should have plenty of time/room to spin around 360 degrees, to get a nose-down attitude's aim at what is REALLY available to you at the moment, not just point and shoot for the first thing you see like I did when I picked a place that was less than desireable with my first engine out.

I think you're making too much out of this one. If you are like me, when I fly over areas with lots of landing options, I don't worry about it and DON'T make mental pictures of every spot. I pretty much know if I have an engine out I have time to find a nice one and set it down AFTER the fact.

If it gets dense enough that I have to start zigzagging my way over the countryside to make it somewhere I switch to a different "mode" where I DO actively try to make a mental picture of each and every place to set it down. I fly along and am constantly saying to myself that THIS is my landing spot for this period of time. When, in my minds eye, I am looking for the next spot to transition to, I verify that I have either climbed to a sufficient altitude to transition safely, choose an alternate site as a halfway point, or make an educated risk assessment that I am probably going to be spenging 10-15 seconds in a "gray" area that I sometimes choose to accept and sometimes don't.

If you fly with a this is my spot thing running through your head, you don't need a photographic memory.

The day my B box died on me, God was looking out for me. I had "accepted"
a longer duration in that gray area than on any flight previous to it in my career. I feel certain that the B box had begun disintegrating even in flight, but luckily it never locked up or failed to turn the spinny thing in the back.
 
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