ELA 07 Scorpion N534EA accident Sebring, Florida

Vance

Gyroplane CFI
Staff member
Joined
Oct 30, 2003
Messages
18,363
Location
Santa Maria, California
Aircraft
Givens Predator
Total Flight Time
2600+ in rotorcraft
Highest injury: minor
Damage: substantial
Accident happened May 7 at 15:30 Z.
From today’s FAA Aviation Safety Information Analysis and Sharing (ASIAS)
 
I don't know Kevin, Chris was the builder and the registered owner is.

GYROPLANEGUY INC in Sebring, FL.

I just looked it up and that is Chris Lord.

He may not have been flying it at the time of the mishap.
 
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This latest news story indicates a Bob Harshbarger was the pilot, who attempted to turn this gyroplane on the runway while rotorblades were in motion.
 
I'm getting tired of reading about accident after accident from some CFIs. I think it time to keep a database or something. Four years ago I thought that maybe there is something more difficult about teaching in and flying gyros. I have been a fixed wing instructor for 18 years, and never had a student have an accident. Not a single one. Now for the last 4.5 years and 900 hours I have been instructing in gyros, and have never had a student even flap a blade. C'mon CFIs, get it together and do a better job. Don't train just to the minimum, and don't sign someone off who is not 100% safe. I know that you can barely kill yourself in a gyro, but you are making gyros look unsafe to the insurance companies, and they are starting to ask ME questions. How many ELAs have been destroyed in the past few years in the USA? Sorry for the rant, but I think it's negligent to have this happen. Step up your game, or go find something else to do.

This training/sales industry should be about taking care of the customers; making sure that they are safe, and understand the risks of any particular model. It shouldn't be about making a sale, do a good job in your business and take care of the customers honestly, the rest will follow.

For future customers: I will teach you how to fly safely. I have full coverage insurance on my training aircraft. I do not take unnecessary risks. I follow the rules. Don't let a fast-talking CFI convince you that their training is the best, check their record of student's accidents.

Rant off.
 
Kevin_Richey;n1133269 said:
This latest news story indicates a Bob Harshbarger was the pilot, who attempted to turn this gyroplane on the runway while rotorblades were in motion.

This strikes me as a pretty poor explanation of what actually went wrong, given by the "executive assistant" to the airport's "Executive Director". I wonder if either of them actually saw the accident.
 
I think pilots are more prone to accidents when changing to different aircraft type where the controls are different. Such as Trike pilot change to flying gyro where the pilot may revert to wrong control action when panicked. Seen this happen often with fixed wing pilots learning to fly trikes, and with trike pilots learning to fly gyros.

Thanks,

Dave
 
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The NTSB has now published the Preliminary - more insight



On May 7, 2018, about 1145 eastern daylight time, an experimental, amateur-built Ela 07 Scorpion gyroplane, N534EA, was substantially damaged during the landing rollout at Sebring Regional Airport (SEF), Sebring, Florida. The student pilot sustained serious injuries. The gyroplane was operated by the student pilot as a personal flight conducted under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident for the local flight.

According to a witness, after the gyroplane landed on runway 1, the rotor blades still had a "high speed" of rotation. When the aircraft started turning to a taxiway on the left, a main rotor blade struck the runway, the gyrocopter spun 180° to the right, and impacted the ground, coming to rest on its right side.

Examination of the gyroplane revealed that one of the main rotor blades impacted the front of the fuselage and a section of the other main rotor blade was impact separated and located about 350 ft from the wreckage. The tail section remained attached to the fuselage. The flight controls were intact, and no binding was noted when they were operated.

The engine remained attached to the fuselage and the propeller remained attached to the engine. All three propeller blades remained attached, and two blades were impact damaged.

An 8 ft long tire mark and a ground scar in the asphalt were also noted in the vicinity of the main wreckage.

The gyroplane was retained for further examination.
 
This was its second tip-over at Sebring in several months.

This time, about 5' of blade was thrown, for 350'.
I inserted the missing piece in red. Also, the mast buckled.



ELA 07 N534EA 20180508 with missing blade piece.JPG
 
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