Jonathan Mylrea
Jon Mylrea
- Joined
- May 26, 2005
- Messages
- 40
- Location
- Cape Town
- Aircraft
- Magni M16 2000 Gyroplane
- Total Flight Time
- 210
I am sad to report that two members of our gyro community were lost over the weekend when the door of an M24 came off in flight on Saturday. The pilot declared an emergency and attempted to land on a nearby road, but struck powerlines on the way in. The pilot and passenger were able to extricate themselves from the wreckage, but were badly burned in the post impact fire and passed away in hospital yesterday. The door was recovered and appeared to have gone through the prop. but the rest of the airframe was totally destroyed in the fire.
The husband of the passenger was flying alongside in his own gyro and witnessed the tragedy from the air. My sincere condolences to him, his family and the family of the pilot.
Two things come to my mind as a result of the accident;
1.) All M24 pilots should inspect the door mountings and check the latch carefully before takeoff. It is unclear if the door had been correctly latched or not at this stage.
2.) We need to find a way to reduce the likelyhood of the post impact fires, which seem to be claiming too many lives after apparently survivable accidents.
The husband of the passenger was flying alongside in his own gyro and witnessed the tragedy from the air. My sincere condolences to him, his family and the family of the pilot.
Two things come to my mind as a result of the accident;
1.) All M24 pilots should inspect the door mountings and check the latch carefully before takeoff. It is unclear if the door had been correctly latched or not at this stage.
2.) We need to find a way to reduce the likelyhood of the post impact fires, which seem to be claiming too many lives after apparently survivable accidents.