No-Fatalities Gyro crash near Ft. Meade, Florida

HiFlite

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I saw this on the ABC national news an hour ago: ABC

1) Yellow gyroplane (AR-1?) suffered what was described as a "hard landing" into a rural swamp. Gyro is upright, mast and one rotor destroyed, the rest intact.
2) Polk County Sheriff's helicopter sent to the scene also "landed hard". Chopper on its side, half underwater. One of the two on board injured.
3) Coast Guard helicopter arrived and pulled all three out without further incident.

Could have been much worse ...
 
I believe there were only two. The gyro student pilot whose engine quit after he heard a "bang" and the helicopter pilot.
The gyroplane engine out landing was good but soon after touchdown he realized he landed in very soft sand as the wheels dug in and it started to flip to one side. The rotor hit the marsh and stopped it turning over. He tried walking out to the dirt road that was 350 feet away but realized he was in quick sand and returned to sit in the gyro and call for help.
Unfortunately the help came in the form of a Bell heli from the Sheriff and he thinks he was told to hang on to the skid and as they left the heli could not pull up and got out of control rotating and slung him off and then rolled over upside down and broke apart. The heli pilot was hanging upside down but was able to cut himself loose. Then the heli started to smoke and both had to crawl on their stomachs farther away. They did not stand up because of fear of sinking in the sand. An air boat tried t get to them but could not. then coastguard helicopter was flown from ClearWater and got them both. The gyro student pilot has sprained neck and shoulder from being slung from the heli. The heli pilot is ok.
 
Good to hear everyone OK. Retrieving either of those aircraft sounds like an expensive proposition.
 
If you ever wondered how a problem with a gyro engine could cost half a million dollars, here you go.
 
If you ever wondered how a problem with a gyro engine could cost half a million dollars, here you go.

Yeah. But he flew right over the dirt road 350 feet behind his landing spot also. He thought he was landing in tall 3 foot grass. He is a student pilot and new and obviously does not recognize the Florida terrain. When you see a Phosphate mine retention of runoff, you definitely do not want to g in there. Mosaic has them all over Florida. They are nasty
 
Good to hear everyone OK. Retrieving either of those aircraft sounds like an expensive proposition.

Probably a helicopter lift
 
What motor and why did it quit?
 
A Huey can lift a Loach (OH-6). Did that too many times in 68-69 Vietnam. Took a Chinook to sling out the Huey. So let it be written, so let it be done.!! Best wishes on the recoveries.
Slinging out an OH-6.jpg
 
What motor and why did it quit?

It was a Rotax 914UL with about 135 hours on it. I don't know why it quit and what was the bang sound as the student pilot called it. Was it some kind of bird strike or a catastrophic internal engine failure? I don't know yet
 
463 JW is reserved but not assigned according to FAA registration, this must not be the correct number ??
 
463 JW is reserved but not assigned according to FAA registration, this must not be the correct number ??
Not sure what you are looking at. FAA shows that its certificate was issued on 09/14/2018, and it airworthiness was 2 weeks after that.
 
463 JW is reserved but not assigned according to FAA registration, this must not be the correct number ??
Try the link I provided for you just four posts up
 
A Huey can lift a Loach (OH-6). Did that too many times in 68-69 Vietnam. Took a Chinook to sling out the Huey. So let it be written, so let it be done.!! Best wishes on the recoveries.

Cool pic!

One of my CFIs was a helicopter pilot in Vietnam and told some great stories. Like the time his tail rotor was shot up and he had to skid it back on the ground at 40 mph. He said he jumped out, tossed the keys to the mechanic and yelled "give me another one!"
 
FAA ASIAS report confirms gyro as AR-1 N463JW - no other insight at this time - "AIRCRAFT CRASHED UNDER UNKNOWN CIRCUMSTANCES, MOSAIC, FL."
 
The gyroplane will be here with us by tomorrow.
Facts as I know at this time subject to change. It experienced engine out and executed an emergency landing unfortunately in sinking soft clay and water, quicksand ground.
Have no idea right now why the engine stopped completely. Engine is a Rotax 914UL and has 135 or more hours on it.

Sheriff heli crashed trying to have the pilot of gyro hang on to one skid which put the heli out of lateral CG and thus out of control it seems and it rolled over trying to climb up.
 
Daily Mail publishes some muddy images of pilot Jeff from online videos he uploaded, also mentions a later MRI scan - hopefully on the mend

 
Daily Mail publishes some muddy images of pilot Jeff from online videos he uploaded, also mentions a later MRI scan - hopefully on the mend


Interesting. Well Jeff is fine and out. He was here yesterday and the day before.
 
The NTSB Preliminary report for the helicopter that crashed whilst trying to rescue the downed gyro pilot has some interesting insight into this attempted rescue as follows ( the Preliminary for the AR-1 N463JW itself has yet to appear on NTSB )

"The pilot was dispatched to provide aerial support for a gyroplane that made a forced landing in a phosphate pit and gypsum pond. The pilot stated that foliage in the gypsum pond was about 6-9 ft tall and the gyroplane pilot was standing on his seat holding onto the rotor blades. The pilot considered that the gyroplane and pilot could sink into the gypsum at any time and attempted to rescue the gyroplane pilot by having him grab the right skid of the helicopter to lift him to safety. The pilot anticipated that when the gyroplane pilot grabbed the skid, he would have to compensate for the change in the helicopter's center of gravity (CG). The gyroplane pilot tried twice to grab the skid, but his hands were covered in mud and gypsum and he was unable to grip the skid.

The pilot said that on the third attempt, the gyroplane pilot had repositioned himself closer to the helicopter's skid and, "Without hesitation and without warning, [the gyroplane pilot] jumped up in the air towards my skid, grabbing the skid in the air, causing his entire weight to be forced onto my skid. This immediately changed my CG in an instant. This action not only caused my aircraft to descend, but an abrupt and violent roll towards the starboard side." The pilot immediately increased collective to prevent striking the gyroplane with the helicopter's skid, but the "roll was tremendous and without warning." The pilot tried to push the cyclic forward to increase speed and lift, but there was no response and the helicopter continued to roll to the right and impacted the gypsum pond, which resulted in substantial damage to the main rotor blades, tail rotor, and the tail boom.""
 
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