IT's NOT ME!!! I'm fine!

GyrOZprey

Aussie in Kansas.
Joined
Aug 8, 2011
Messages
3,388
Location
Whitewater KS
Aircraft
Butterfly Aurora N5560Z / Titanium Explorer N456TE & N488TE/ - trained in MTOsport 446QT/488FB
Total Flight Time
1023
Our local EMS has just attended a gyro accident near the local large cattle feedlot ...near Potwin.

I have received a couple of calls from concerned friends.

I'm fine ...staying grounded today!

Sadly I think I know who - it's a green/cammo MTO sport machine! (smoking hole ...not looking good!)

RIP.:cry::mad: Dammit!
 
Sad news for all concerned.

Local media now report two fatalities

""Two people are dead after a gyrocopter wreck in Butler County, according to 911 emergency communications.

The crash was reported at 1:45 p.m. in between Whitewater and Potwin. The two people were the only ones in the aircraft, an official said. The original report was that one person died.

A gyrocopter looks similar to a helicopter but is powered differently.""

Read more here: https://www.kansas.com/news/local/article246932077.html#storylink=cpy
 
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I A86B3484-DB51-46EA-BCCC-DDDC67B0B8D9.jpeg
Kerry Trent and his military-theme decal’d machine at our EAA 88 late September fly-in! So very sad to lose a new KS gyro pilot ... we never even had a chance to fly & fellowship together! This is too sad ....heartfelt condolences to the families grieving today!
 
The Wichita FSDO ...reached out to me to assist in the examination of wreckage ..and help their examiner understand gyroplane anatomy!
A grim "honor" to be able of offer what expertise I can!
Spent two hours this afternoon taking a close look at burned & twisted MTO remains and offer insights on how the parts typically distort in the impact profile of machine & ground.
As the wreckage had been scooped up and relocated to a tow-company yard ... there were challenges in interpretation that should be mediated when the in-situ photos become available!
 
They reached out for expertise and knowledge.
 
I will be getting access to a file of in situ photos on Monday.
Wishing there was a good eye witness who saw the deviation from S&L cruise flight to lawn-dart attitude! ...as with my Jim's accident - it sure helps figure things out with nearby observer/s!

Heartwrenching ..for the families - as I well know the road!

Hoping autopsy may prove a medical issue. Similarities very strong to Jim's & Alex Vagners accidents ....both medical events rendering pilot unconscious in flight! So awful that this one took an innocent passenger too!
 
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I was recently asked about the NTSB conclusions to this local accident.

As usual ...probable cause ..."undetermined"!

(Somehow the rotor-strike mark on the unburned tail - observed & the separated rotor blade found 500 ft away - did not suggest a mid-air unloading of rotor and an inflight flap!!!!)

There are tall major power-lines in vicinity & IF they were doing ...low flight (hog-hunt maneuvers) and did a zoom-climb over power lines /tree-row ...WITHOUT a correct rotor-loading sequence/out ...this to me makes sense for a slowed rotor /in-flight flap event!

YET AGAIN ...another sub-100 SOLO-flight hour/ new-to-gyro pilot getting in over his head with (possibly) advanced low-level maneuvers & flying a passenger!!!
 

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I was recently asked about the NTSB conclusions to this local accident.

As usual ...probable cause ..."undetermined"!

(Somehow the rotor-strike mark on the unburned tail - observed & the separated rotor blade found 500 ft away - did not suggest a mid-air unloading of rotor and an inflight flap!!!!)

There are tall major power-lines in vicinity & IF they were doing ...low flight (hog-hunt maneuvers) and did a zoom-climb over power lines /tree-row ...WITHOUT a correct rotor-loading sequence/out ...this to me makes sense for a slowed rotor /in-flight flap event!

YET AGAIN ...another sub-100 SOLO-flight hour/ new-to-gyro pilot getting in over his head with (possibly) advanced low-level maneuvers & flying a passenger!!!

High time in aircraft, low time in new to him category means overconfident and wrong muscle memory in the wrong situation. Definitely an in-flight breakup of the rotor and most likely due to flap that chopped the tail. Study of insurance underwriters in the UK found in 2008 that high time pilots with low time in type are the most likely to have fatal accidents in usually calm evening conditions.
 
The NTSB Final report also states "
Review of the pilot’s logbook revealed that, during previous flights in the months before the
accident, the pilot had reported “hog hunt,” recon of fields, and “off-airport.” Pictures supplied
by the local law enforcement revealed that three pistols were found at the accident site with the
wreckage. The pilot’s truck was located at 29KS with about 10 gallons of additional fuel located
in gas cans in the trailer."

Speculation - maybe so busy finding, following and shooting hogs that "aviation" took a second place. Focus on flying.
 
Looks like probably a Vietnam Era Army Ranger. Rangers are American heroes in my eyes, for sure!
 
Speculation - maybe so busy finding, following and shooting hogs that "aviation" took a second place. Focus on flying.
Aircraft have been used as tools for an infinite number of endeavors. It would be a very small aviation world that only used aircraft for pure joy of flight purposes. That said, it always deserves the utmost respect, regardless of the purpose of the flight.
 
The NTSB Final report also states "
Review of the pilot’s logbook revealed that, during previous flights in the months before the
accident, the pilot had reported “hog hunt,” recon of fields, and “off-airport.” Pictures supplied
by the local law enforcement revealed that three pistols were found at the accident site with the
wreckage. The pilot’s truck was located at 29KS with about 10 gallons of additional fuel located
in gas cans in the trailer."

Speculation - maybe so busy finding, following and shooting hogs that "aviation" took a second place. Focus on flying.

Most states have some strong laws about shooting from an aircraft, I doubt he would risk his license by doing that
and the odds of hitting a hog from a moving aircraft with a pistol are slim to none....
That being said, I have heard of permits being issued for helicopter hunting of hogs, (maybe Texas?) since they are an invasive species
that is actively being eradicated.
 
Just complete my UK Bi-Annual Gyro Licence renewal yesterday. I normal fly single seat but this was conducted an a Magni 16 which I have flown a few times before.

A very instructive flight with Steve Boxall. Steve started his flying career in his teens as balloon pilot and instructor, then built a single-seat Merlin gyro in his garage .Later the first person in the UK to own a new generation factory-built gyroplane, then, first flying instructor to operate one.
As a senior UK Gyroplane Instructor, Examiner and FIC (Instructor of instructors), is an LAA inspector and one of only three people to hold a UK Gyroplane Commercial Pilots Licence and night rating.

During our unusual attitude recovery segment, the scenario is that you are conducting a low level fly by of a friends house. With attention focussed down onto the ground you begin to turn left around the point on the ground, if one does not pay sufficient attention it is very easy for the nose to to drop this then resulting in a rapidly tightening and accelerating spiral dive.

Speed builds very rapidly, as does vertical descent rate, if the correct recover procedure is not immediately initiated, the result can be a high rate impact with the ground.

A low time gyro pilot, with his attention focused on Ferrel Hog Control, this sounds like a classic case of loss of control in an inadvertent unusual attitude, resulting in 'un'-CFIT. (Uncontrolled Flight Into Terrain.)
 
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Doesn’t sound like CFIT to me. A rotor blade 500 feet away and rotor hot marks on the tail sounds like control inputs that unloaded the rotor and slowed it down to hit the tail in the air and a blade departed in flight. 500 feet is way too far away to have hit the ground and gone that far.
 
Abid you obviously haven't see the distance traveled by rotors departing a gyro that has a rotor strike on the ground.

There are numerous videos YouTube of rotors that have been flung considerable distances due to accidental ground contact.

That said our various opinion are only conjecture.
 
Abid you obviously haven't see the distance traveled by rotors departing a gyro that has a rotor strike on the ground.

There are numerous videos YouTube of rotors that have been flung considerable distances due to accidental ground contact.

That said our various opinion are only conjecture.

You have some links to show. I have seen gyroplane accidents of gyroplanes hitting the ground at 100+ MPH and the rotors were within a 100 feet. I have only seen rotors go far away when they departed in the air
 
Couple of observations.

Abid, you are a guy who absolutely has to have the last word.

I am not going to root around simply to prolong our differing opinions.

You have given yours, I mine, so let's just agree to differ an leave it there.

Second observation, your posts in the Oshkosh midair. Numerous and... eventually...seeming to agree on a number of posts made by others that you seemed to ignore to begin with. You are a smart guy, but not infallible...just don't seem to even think that yours just perhaps might not be the prefect answer.

And while I am on that sad point, just been watching this unfortunate collision between two very experienced and now deceased guys.


Kind or reminded me of how we all.,.whether flying, driving or walking across the yard, can take the next step an go to meet our maker. Life is dangerous no matter how, what, or where we are, day night summer or winter, young or old, sleeping or awake. That's life.
 
Most tragic. I'll just say though that shooting any weapon that ejects a shell casing from an open cockpit aircraft is ill-advised as it will most assuredly end up flying into the prop. I've seen hog-hunters in R22's but they're using brass-catchers on their rifles.

Flying the R22 doors-off in the summer, I'd always request pax to remove anything like loose change from their pockets and stow it under the seat to keep things from potentially flying out and hitting the tail rotor.
 
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