He wanted to practice crow hops or balancing on main wheels ... that I can believe and it got out of hand.
This crash did not occur during crow hopping, but from altitude after an engine-out.
I know many friends in gyroplane circles disagree but personally I firmly believe that crow hops and balancing exercises can be more dangerous than getting away from the ground, . . . If you can't do it high, you certainly will screw it up low.
Here at Sport Copter we believe the reverse: If you can't do it low, you're not yet a well-rounded gyro pilot. (Imagine a helicopter pilot who could not hover.) It's comparatively easy to fly a gyro at 500+' AGL; we often let new passengers do so during their first flight. However, real mastery is required at 0-2' above the runway, and the more practice one gets there the better.
Over many years we've found crow hopping to be an important training tool to master take-off airspeeds, rotor rpm, power/control coupling, flying behind the power curve, ground effect and flaring, the avoidance of ballooning, regularly smooth landings with "walking/jogging speed" touchdowns, and the touch-and-go.
Crow hopping hones the subconscious with the practice of small control movements, which is the path to mastery. 30 minutes of crow hopping can pack in dozens of touchdowns that would otherwise take hours of pattern work landings. Training tempo is high, and a student very quickly learns the proper "feel."
Before crow hopping one should have first mastered balancing on the mains, and tapping the nosewheel as needed. Here's an example of a new student demonstrating good control:
Sportcopter transition training balance on the mains rake 27
Our gyros are designed for this by not linking the NW to the pedals, thus the absence of Sport Copter nosewheel-related incidents while taxiing, take-off, and landing. (In other gyros, we count 10 such global incidents, with another 32 probables/possibles.) Pedal-linking the gyro NW invites drama, especially for the new pilot with <100 hours. (Also, FW pilots are accustomed to using the rudder during take-offs and landings, and many of them find it tricky to transition into NW-linked gyros.)
Regarding 2-place vs. single seat gyros, a student well-trained in our dual gyro with our techniques should be able to safely transition into their single seat machine and not over-control it. Our Vortex 582 and M912 gyros are very responsive, but not twitchy.
But, all this is rather incidental to our discussion of N634SC. All public reports indicate that the gyro owner was not rated, had very little training, went up regardless and then had an engine-out (which an experienced pilot can handle even at very low altitude). Let's work together to make N634SC the last example of such a tragic crash. Solid training and then 100+ hours after one's gyro rating is what it usually takes to move from newbie to reliable competence.
