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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.