Coming soon, a gyro accident report( non fatal)

Gyro accidents happen for many reasons. They happen to novice pilots and also to high time pilots. Sometimes the accident is caused by someone wanting a picture of the gyro in flight. Inattention is another frequent cause of accidents. An example of inattention is the pilot who was fatally injured when he flew into power lines while being photographed from the ground. Well, I guess you could say that particular accident was caused by two reasons; a camera and inattention. But as mentioned, all manner of things can cause an accident.

Poor flight planning can be a reason for an accident. I am guilty not doing a thorough job of flight planning years ago when I went on a cross country flight in my gyro. I had neglected to check the runway condition of a field where I planned to land . I had landed there years before and at that time the small strip was well maintained and in good condition but in the intervening years the asphalt had suffered greatly and there were deep chuck holes all over the runway.

Fortunately for me , the wind was blowing about 30 mph. and that allowed me to make a no roll landing thus avoiding running into a chuckhole. The high wind allowed for an almost vertical takeoff when I departed, again avoiding the holes in the runway. If there had been no wind I could not have landed there safely as a landing roll or takeoff run was not possible because of the holes in the runway.

And if I had to fly to an alternate airport I would have had a major problem as I didn't have enough fuel to make it to the next airport. As I said, it was poor flight planning and is an example of what could cause a gyro accident. If there had been an accident I could have been cited by the FAA because it is an FAA rule that the condition of the runway to be used be checked prior to departing on a cross country trip.

Recently a gyro pilot friend with some years of gyro flying experience crashed his gyro. His accident was one of those that shouldn't have happened but it did. My friend was not injured but his gyro was totally destroyed . Knowing that the accident was his fault he has asked me to write about it for he believes as I do, that there is a lesson to be learned in every accident. He is to be commended for wanting to try to prevent someone else from similar grief. It will be a day or so before I can get to it but at his request I will describe his non fatal accident.

Till next time.
Marion Springer