Accident - MTOSport, Costa Rica, Golfito: take-off accident 03 DEC 2021

TyroGyro

Junior Member
Joined
Sep 30, 2016
Messages
567
Location
Liverpool, UK
Aircraft
MTOsport G-IROD
Total Flight Time
150




Better Quality Video here

PARA-SUBIR-1-13-1024x554.jpg


Thankfully, no fatalities.

Winds allegedly gusting to 70 km/h.
 
Last edited:
The video in that teletica.com link has one of the highest count of ads one is forced to view b/4 the video commences. To review it repeatedly, one has to click on the traveling cursor below the video to avoid being forced to watch the ads over again.

1. Too high airspeed for a takeoff. Pilot added power (possibly full throttle) @ :02-:03 in the video.
2. Pilot popped the aircraft off the ground (rotorblades instantly start flapping, evidenced by the slapping sound heard).
3. Gyroplane enters a standard left bank @ too nose high of attitude due to rotorblades @ insufficient rpm speeds to provide the necessary lift of the weight of the machine & occupants.

-It was too difficult to see/hear if one rotorblade hit the pavement as the machine was horsed skyward.
-High winds were blamed (instead of the improper takeoff technique for a gyroplane). The folage in the video is barely moving in an ever so slight breeze!
-I cannot believe an experienced gyroplane pilot was @ the controls...

From Google Translate:
"The pilot of an ultralight lost control of that aircraft and crashed, this Friday, on the runway of Golfito, Puntarenas. The events occurred at about 3 p.m. In the ultralight, registration ULTI-134, two adults were traveling."
As confirmed by the Fire Department, one of the occupants was transferred to the medical center for evaluation, since he had several blows to the body. The other person did not require care in a hospital. Apparently, the strong winds that are registered in the area caused the accident. The National Meteorological Institute (IMN) reported that in the South Pacific of the country there are gusts of up to 70 kilometers per hour."
 
Last edited:
A widely circulated rumor has it that it was a flight of five at an airport with no taxiways and an inbound commercial aircraft insisted that the gyroplanes vacate the runway.

The landing aircraft has the right of way; if you are unable to clear the runway say “unable” and do the best you can to vacate the runway in the most expeditious way with safety in mind.

The accident pilot is a commercial pilot with thousands of hours of experience.

In this case a back taxi was not very expeditious so it appears the accident pilot rushed the takeoff and kept the cyclic forward for faster acceleration and then brought the cyclic full back to rotate and had a severe blade sailing experience.

It appears to me that he kept the cyclic well back forcing the gyroplane into the air at low indicated air speed with predictable results.

Unfortunately this is a common scenario where the pilot forgets about the rotor and focuses on airspeed for takeoff.

I have saved this video to use as a teaching aid to show what an accident chain looks like.

Never hurry aviation and never hurry the takeoff in a gyroplane.
 
Last edited:
From Google Translate:
"The pilot of an ultralight lost control of that aircraft and crashed, this Friday, on the runway of Golfito, Puntarenas. The events occurred at about 3 p.m. In the ultralight, registration ULTI-134, two adults were traveling."
As confirmed by the Fire Department, one of the occupants was transferred to the medical center for evaluation, since he had several blows to the body. The other person did not require care in a hospital. Apparently, the strong winds that are registered in the area caused the accident. The National Meteorological Institute (IMN) reported that in the South Pacific of the country there are gusts of up to 70 kilometers per hour."
The leaves on the trees were remarkably still for 38kt (70 kilometers per hour) gusts.
 
The video in that teletica.com link has one of the highest count of ads one is forced to view b/4 the video commences. To review it repeatedly, one has to click on the traveling cursor below the video to avoid being forced to watch the ads over again.

The Dailymotion version of the video that I linked in the first post is better quality, both sound and image, and has no ads...


It can be slowed to 50% playback speed. [top right settings/sliders]
 
That accident had nothing to do with the wind...
Shows how newswriters always have to come up with SOME (any) explanation, frequently for things they don't understand at all. Who is going to call them out on it? On to the next gory story...
 
The leaves on the trees were remarkably still for 38kt (70 kilometers per hour) gusts.

Yes - there were no wind gust visible so doubt that had anything to do with it. Looks like all pilot error.

Never seen anything like it. Does appear they where way too nose high initially and kept it there. I couldn't tell the rotor position when they pulled back so aggressively.
 
Last edited:
It looks to me like an airplane pilot in an hurry, forgetting he's not flying an airplane, and trying to "rotate", at speed, for takeoff. He flaps the blades and the gyro rolls toward the retreating blade side.
They are lucky they weren't seriously hurt but, as Vance points out, it's a great video of what not to do. I think Mike G might now have the video he was looking for!
 
Last edited:
Yep, another fixedwing idiot. Full power with stick forward and rotating without RRPM.
One more for the collection. Thank you for the insurance costs stupids...
I can barely afford having and fueling my gyro and idiots like him is destroying it completely.
You can't fly without insurance so I won't be able to fly much at all.
 
Last edited:
@rcflier it seems from previous discussions on here not all countries insist on insurance. :oops:
Here in France the cost of insurance is not too high just paid my licence fee, third party insurance and personal injury for 10K€ =179€
Note this does not include insurance for the machine or to carry passengers.
300+h in a flexwing and I had a passenger for 5h, and he is a pilot who had problem with his machine on the day of an outing so came with me. Therefore, in my case, insuring for a passenger was simply a waste of money.
 
Hi Jetlag.
I'll be (edit: finishing my) training this coming spring and then I have to have it fully insured, of course.
And have my license just before summer. If/when I get proficient,
then I'll have just third party insurance (unless the isn't much difference).
Should I crash, well, then I've been there and done that. I already have the T-shirt...:LOL:

Cheers

(hmm, could I have it insured in France?)
 
Last edited:
The issue with compulsory insurance is that good practitioners must ALWAYS pay for the bad ones. It's the nature of "the game". The assumption is that there will be a lot more good players than bad.
And then, of course, there must be profits for the providers.
 
Tyger - Is there a way to get liability insurance without insuring the gyrocopter here in the US since I assume it’s very hard now to get insurance for the gyrocopter. Do umbrella insurance policies cover any liability issues related to gyrocopter operations?

The only issue I know of is keeping a gyrocopter in a hanger where they require proof of insurance on the aircraft. I wasn’t able to find an aviation insurance company to cover my SC M912 in the past.
 
Tyger, that's the truth. And as we all know, there are many gyro accidents.
So I should've considered fixed wing instead. But i hear that's not cheap here either.
I have paid 27000 Dkr. Which will be lowered to 22000 Dkr. when I have my license.
And a friend with a co-owned UL plane has to pay 13000 Dkr. (all numbers are yearly)
(that's US$ 4100, US$ 3346 and US$2000, respectively)
I have paid more than 10% of the insured hull value per year!
(I had it insured from may until october. I had to stop)
 
Last edited:
Tyger, that's the truth. And as we all know, there are many gyro accidents.
So I should've considered fixed wing instead. But i hear that's not cheap here either.
I have paid 27000 Dkr. Which will be lowered to 22000 Dkr. when I have my license.
And a friend with a co-owned UL plane has to pay 13000 Dkr. (all numbers are yearly)
(that's US$ 4100, US$ 3346 and US$2000, respectively)
I have paid more than 10% of the insured hull value per year!
(I had it insured from may until October. I had to stop)
What cover do you get for your 27K/22K ?
phil
 
Myself (I think), an instructor (or maybe a passenger), third party plus hull damage for max. US$ 34K (€30K)
 
Last edited:
I am aware of only one company writing insurance on Gyros in the US
Star Indemnity.
It certainly isn't cheap.
My Gyro is hangered and I have 200 hours in Gyros.
$1 mill liability and $85K hull coverage cost me $5,800
 
Tyger
"I think Mike G might now have the video he was looking for!"
Thanks for thinking about me, I've answered in the GWS thread to avoid thread drift.
Mike
 
On the question of ads, I recommend this.

 
It looks to me like an airplane pilot in an hurry, forgetting he's not flying an airplane, and trying to "rotate", at speed, for takeoff. He flaps the blades and the gyro rolls toward the retreating blade side.
I got to experience a much milder version of this in a lesson with Mark Sprigg. In short, a stop and go in a 912 M16 and I failed to bring cyclic fully back before going to full throttle, because Italians aren't as fat as Americans. When we didn't lift off at the expected airspeed I pulled cyclic back further and immediately came off the ground in a nose high, behind the power curve attitude. We didn't gain airspeed and just held an altitude I would say was at the edge of ground effect. I didn't flap the rotors and we had no uncommanded roll forces to contend with but it was a long slow effort to build up airspeed sufficient to climb out. The extra15 hp of a 914 would have been welcome. It seems with the Magni they are a tight fit for today's American and the cyclic should come back until you are measurably uncomfortable from hitting yourself in the crotch.

Lesson learned. Once you have enough rotor speed to stiffen the blades (whatever your POH calls for) and keep the rotor out of the prop or tail feathers, fully back is where the cyclic needs to be so that you don't build up airspeed faster than you build RRPM when you release the brake and go on the throttle. A modest forward movement of the cyclic when you feel the nose wheel get light and the Magni will fly off at the correct attitude, airspeed and RRPM.
 
Top