News Report - Fatal Umatilla Florida 28-9-17

FAA ASIAS states
28-SEP-17
Time:13:30:00Z
Regis#:N152AH
Aircraft Make:ANDY HICKOX
Aircraft Model:ANDY'S GYROPLANE
Event Type:ACCIDENT
Highest Injury:FATAL
Aircraft Missing:No
Damage:DESTROYED
LOCATION
City:UMATILLA
State:FLORIDA
Country:UNITED STATES
DESCRIPTION
Description:AIRCRAFT CRASHED UNDER UNKNOWN CIRCUMSTANCES.
 
Single seat (Bobs-copter) 70 year old first solo, no HS, PIO and bunt-over. Second hand info. Take it with a grain of salt. Just the info I heard.
 
One of the news reports I read; stated a witness reported hearing a very loud pop and could see parts flying off the aircraft while it was descending.
The airworthiness was issued to Andy Hickox in November 2008 having Subaru engine and called it a "Andys' Gyroplane"
The current owner/registration was issued on 8/1/2017 to James Pensinger.
It appears he has a PPSEL issued on 2/19/2009 and Instrument rated and hold 4 Repairman certificates on some fixed winged designs.
It was reported that this was his first solo flight.
.
We can speculate as to a PIO leading into a PPO, but based on the report; it appears he unloaded the rotor and the rotorblade impacted the airframe.
Very sad to hear this, for him, his family and friends.
The questions I have is:
1. Did he just decide to fly the gyro, with or without instruction?
2. If he had instruction, did he have a Solo Endorsement from a CFI?
3. Or Did the "Operating Limitations" on this aircraft not require the Pilot to hold a Category/Class rating?
 
It has been my observation that often fixed wing pilots expect a quicker response from rotorcraft control inputs than they are going to get and this often leads to Pilot Induced Oscillations (PIO) when introduced to rotorcraft.

Without an appropriately located and sized horizontal stabilizer the chances of PIO are increased.

Hearing a loud pop and seeing parts depart the aircraft is common with PIO accidents.

I find it particularly distressing when someone’s joy and exuberance turns fatal leaving behind a lot of sadness.

His CFI must be devastated. A client’s first solo is a very special event and can turn tragic so quickly.

I feel this sort of accident gives fuel to the gyroplane detractors and hurts everyone who flies a gyroplane.
 
Gyro28866;n1125360 said:
One of the news reports I read; stated a witness reported hearing a very loud pop and could see parts flying off the aircraft while it was descending.
The airworthiness was issued to Andy Hickox in November 2008 having Subaru engine and called it a "Andys' Gyroplane"
The current owner/registration was issued on 8/1/2017 to James Pensinger.
It appears he has a PPSEL issued on 2/19/2009 and Instrument rated and hold 4 Repairman certificates on some fixed winged designs.
It was reported that this was his first solo flight.
.
We can speculate as to a PIO leading into a PPO, but based on the report; it appears he unloaded the rotor and the rotorblade impacted the airframe.
Very sad to hear this, for him, his family and friends.
The questions I have is:
1. Did he just decide to fly the gyro, with or without instruction?
2. If he had instruction, did he have a Solo Endorsement from a CFI?
3. Or Did the "Operating Limitations" on this aircraft not require the Pilot to hold a Category/Class rating?

I truly do not know the answers but I will comment on the fact that there is no contradiction between hearing a loud pop and pieces flying off (in-flight hit) of gyroplane with unloaded rotor and with PIO. PIO can in my estimation easily get to the point of unloading the rotor without a proper tail
 
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More details from your NTSB - Preliminary, some important insight here



On September 28, 2017, about 1122 eastern daylight time, an experimental amateur-built gyroplane, N152AH, impacted a wooded area near Umatilla, Florida. The private pilot was fatally injured and the gyroplane was destroyed. The gyroplane was being operated under theprovisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91 as a personal flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time and no flight plan was filed for the local flight which originated about 1000 from Bob White Field Airport (X61), Zellwood, Florida.



A witness at a nearby bee farm reported seeing the gyroplane fly over his position in a north-northwesterly direction. The witness reported the engine was running, and he heard 2 popping sounds, followed 1 large pop sound, and then the engine lost total power. At that time, while about 50 to 60 ft above the tree tops, the witness observed a large main rotor blade separate.



The gyroplane began descending and he lost sight but then heard an impact. He drove to the accident site and informed the property owner of the accident.



Nearly the full length of one main rotor blade was found about 193° and 333 ft from the main wreckage. The wreckage was recovered and the fractured main rotor blade were retained for

further examination.""


more info on their PDF report
 
Has any new information been learned?
 
I wonder if they were the extruded aluminum blades? I can't see how to do a safety inspection at time of production.
 
Evidently, he was at least a decent fixed wing pilot, Private rated and 4 Repairmen certificates on home builds.
It was reported as his first solo flight, in the gyro. The gyro was EAB and recently registered to him. Did he get any lessons in a gyro? Did he get a solo endorsement from a CFI? Does any of the Florida bunch know him? A bunch of un-answered questions for me.
Or, was it another case of a fixed wing guy thinking, "I can fly that thing!" and go out and try it?
 
Gyros are not especially prone to PIO, and are not all prone to PPO, if they are designed correctly. A loud "pop" followed by freefall, is typical of a PIO-PPO event. Prop marks on one or both blades, and evidence of uncontrolled in-flight flapping (hammered teeter stops, bent spindle bolt) are evidence of PIO-PPO.

A pilot who has thoroughly trained to fly defective, unstable gyros can compensate for the defects, avoid PIO and PPO, and stay alive (mostly). A fixed-wing pilot, other than a trained test pilot, is not likely to be able to save himself in such an aircraft.

So, IMHO, the configuration of the aircraft (tail design, thrustline placement) should be the starting point of any investigation of this crash. The FAA./NTSB, in my experience, will not know to do this.
 
Don't forget that the gyro in question was a " Bobs Gyrocopters " gyro. Anyone who was a regular attending Bensen Days in the 2000's would remember these gyros. They looked terrible. Most cobbled together junk pile piece of crap machines you had ever seen. And you never saw them actually get airborne, other than maybe a crow hop. Everyone would mumble behind the mans back about how these machines would kill anyone dumb enough to fly one, yet no one would have the balls to actually tell Mr Bob that he is peddling death traps. This accident in this thread is not the first time one of these machines has killed the pilot.
 
In the world of fixed wing flying, crow hops are dangerous. The plane is slow and controls are mushy.

In the gyro world, crow hopping is safe and a good way to learn to control the gyro before going high and fast.

Even after thorough 2-place training, new gyro pilots should start with crow hops, especially in a highly maneuverable single place. Those that come from the fixed wing world with a "crow hops are dangerous" mindset will be lucky to get a "stable" single place gyro back on the ground safely if they go fly the pattern on the first solo flight. Ask me how I know. I believe if I'd had an unstable gyro on my first solo, I'd likely be dead.

Following the Bensen training manual for any single place gyro is essential training, maybe even more important than 2-place training.
 
No Title

Eric S;n1126532 said:
In the world of fixed wing flying, crow hops are dangerous. The plane is slow and controls are mushy.

In the gyro world, crow hopping is safe and a good way to learn to control the gyro before going high and fast.

Even after thorough 2-place training, new gyro pilots should start with crow hops, especially in a highly maneuverable single place. Those that come from the fixed wing world with a "crow hops are dangerous" mindset will be lucky to get a "stable" single place gyro back on the ground safely if they go fly the pattern on the first solo flight. Ask me how I know. I believe if I'd had an unstable gyro on my first solo, I'd likely be dead.

Following the Bensen training manual for any single place gyro is essential training, maybe even more important than 2-place training.

Not everyone feels crow hops are a good way to learn takeoffs and landings in a gyroplane.

Ernie Boyette, the father of the Dominator specifically advises against them in a Dominator.

I was taught the dangerous part of the takeoff in the handoff from the ground to the air and it is best to get away from the ground a good distance as soon as possible. This is the antithesis of a crow hop and because I learned it first is what I remember.

I have found it works best for me to teach someone to land first and then when they have that down with most I teach them to take off in a separate lesson.

When my clients are learning to land the first hint of a landing that should be aborted is not being aligned with the center of the runway. If they cannot stay on the centerline aligned with the direction of flight I feel they are not ready to land.

For me the first hint of a takeoff gone wrong is early lift off and/or part throttle lift off.

In my opinion a crow hop doesn’t address landing on the centerline aligned with the runway and if anything teaches part throttle takeoffs with an early lift off.

I can see the value in crow hops and depending on the specific aircraft I might have a primary solo student do crow hops in their machine for their early solo in no wind conditions.

It is more likely I would have them just takeoff normally and fly the pattern because what people learn first is what they are likely to remember best.

I don’t solo anyone in their machine without flying it first and depending on the design I may do something like a crow hop learning how it flies and getting a feeling for how it is rigged.

In the days of self-training it was not uncommon to go through several sets of blades learning crow hops.

Many crow hop accidents don’t get reported and yet the NTSB still has a lot of them listed, fortunately most are not fatal.

In my opinion learning to balance on the mains is not a crow hop unless it is done badly.

These are my opinions based on my experience and the consul of people who have mentored me on my gyroplane adventure.

I am sure there are lots of people who feel strongly that crow hops are the very basis of learning to fly a gyroplane and I have no desire to debate them.

From how it reads I feel this accident was not a crow hop accident and I feel there would not be much learned doing crow hops that would have prevented it.
 

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I tend to agree with Vance. I believe that any aircraft should be either firmly on the ground or (preferably) flying, but any 'intermediate state', where you are neither flying nor rolling on the ground, and not clearly in control of your craft, is inherently dangerous and should be avoided.
 
XXavier;n1126536 said:
I tend to agree with Vance. I believe that any aircraft should be either firmly on the ground or (preferably) flying, but any 'intermediate state', where you are neither flying nor rolling on the ground, and not clearly in control of your craft, is inherently dangerous and should be avoided.

I think you just proved the point I was trying to make. That's what I used to think before I flew gyros and it's accurate for fixed wing flying.

Balancing on the mains (with a castering nose wheel) and flying 2-3 feet off the ground in a gyro is safe and stable with complete control. On a light wind day you can fly the runway back and forth in both directions and work up to slightly higher and faster flying and S-turns. It's excellent practice before going to altitude and away from the runway.
 
Eric S;n1126544 said:
I think you just proved the point I was trying to make. That's what I used to think before I flew gyros and it's accurate for fixed wing flying.

Balancing on the mains (with a castering nose wheel) and flying 2-3 feet off the ground in a gyro is safe and stable with complete control. On a light wind day you can fly the runway back and forth in both directions and work up to slightly higher and faster flying and S-turns. It's excellent practice before going to altitude and away from the runway.

The two to three feet is where you lose me Eric.

It doesn’t take much of a gust to drop a gyroplane two or three feet and if it not aligned with the runway when it touches down the high center of gravity and lift up high will tip her over.

If I lift off early accidently I get the nose down to get some airspeed up in ground effect.

In my opinion this is not a crow hop and I climb out as soon as practical.

The recent spate of tip overs on taxi after landing suggests to me high rotor rpm near the ground is not a happy condition in a gyroplane.

When giving the required briefing to a passenger on emergency procedures; one that I cover is tip over on the runway. “Keep your hands and feet inside the aircraft till the noise stops; then release the seatbelt and exit forward.”

There are differing opinions on this and I am not sugesting mine is the correct one; I am only explaining why i feel that way.

One of the most challenging maneuvers I do at air show is low speed low pass. I feel this is an advanced maneuver. It is well received because it would be so much more difficult in a fixed wing.
 
If this individual had had a copy of the Bensen training syllabus and stuck to it, he'’d still be with us. Here'’s an OCR of vital rules for doing it yourself:

"4: Here, then, finally is the important Lesson Number Six to -he learned during your first powered flights: a flareout type landing produces the slowest touchdown speed and the shortest ground run; it is 'independent of the power setting.
Thus, when you reach the end of the runway and reduce the power to land, there will be no need to re-adjust the throttle when the flareout is initiated. The throttle is used only to adjust the angle of glide prior to landing.
Do not overdo it the first day. Your progress will be quite praiseworthy, if all you accomplish is making a series of short straight hops no higher than 10 feet. This experience will be plenty exciting and exhilarating not only to yourself, but also to the onlookers. Break up for lunch, or for a day, and give yourself time to soak up all this new experience.

The greatest mistakes during these early stages of training, curiously, are made more often by licensed pilots than by total beginners. Because of their being accustomed to stalling and spinning characteristics of airplanes, fixed-wing pilots have an irresistible urge to:

1. climb to 100 feet or higher right after the first take off,

2. fly beyond the end of the runway,

3. attempt a full circuit flight around the airport, including the downwind, and

4. "chop" the throttle to full idle when getting ready to land. F

Nothing can be farther from a safe procedure. Any one of the above violations of correct training instructions can spell trouble. Gyrocopters neither spin, nor stall, and there is absolutely no need to gain high altitude during first flights. A runway of average length will permit many take-offs, short flights and landings-and plenty of opportunity to "feel out" your gyrocopter at a safe low altitude. Any other procedure would be downright dangerous. If the rotor of your 'copter gives you any trouble during powered flights (vibrations, slow starting, etc.) it is recommended that you do your trouble-shooting flying the craft in tow as a glider. Our experience showed that much quicker and more satisfactory rotor fixes are obtained when the engine is left inoperative during test flights."
 
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