'Near miss’ Stories?

[asra]

[NiqueNaque]

Clear air turbulence can be encountered on a sunny day after a rainy day and it can be quite severe.Cheers,Nick

[birdy]

Reckon the only thing ever picked up on a preflight on the ferel was one of the thrust struts from the 912 redrive to the mast had cracked compleatly off one the mast end.No idea why it never fell off.The embarassing part is,it wasn't me who found it,but a bystander."is this ment to be just hang'n off ere".It was then I realised why the machine had been wont'n to crab sideways for the last couple o days.The engine was screw'n to one side under thrust.Never had the wether ground me yet,tho sometimes I probably should have pulled up for a couple o hours till things calmed down a bit.The only thing that will ground the ferel is 'sundown'.Ignorance is bliss............but only till you realise you were.

[Brian]

Bystanders seem to find "things wrong" probably more so than the owner !!I have been put down by the weather a few times, once it gets to the stage that I cant do my job properly and its getting plain dangerous, then its time for a coffee and back into it later !!You never know how far you can go, till you get there !

[asra]

Incident Report 1st December 2004Suspected Rotor Blade De-lamination in Flightminimise disk loading from this point. So I should have maintained enough power to clear all the immediate obstacles and got it to the ground ASAP, keeping turning to a minimum. It would have made for interesting landing downwind with a 20 knot tail wind, but in retrospect, not such a bad option given the open farmland below. I said to my host I was going flying for an hour or so over his property. This is not good enough. I should have given a much clearer description of my intentions, including what part of the property I would be flying over, and exactly what time I would be back at the house.After the impact I was initially dazed and disorientated, and it took me a good ten minutes after dipping my head into a water tank to just to figure out what had happened, let alone where I was. I only had a 2 km walk back to the house, thankfully I was able to easily walk this distance. It may have been a much different story had I sustained any injuries that limited my mobility.Finally, we are not indestructible, and stuff happens that can bring our machines to the ground at any time. After 90 hours I was starting feel I had some of this gyro stuff worked out. Talk about being bought back down to earth.As long as I fly a gyro I will consider myself a student, as there will always be something to learn. Ross Bannerman

[NiqueNaque]

With a hard thump...Cheers Ross,good story.Nick.

[asra]

Thanks for sharing that with us Ross.Aussie Paul.[]www.firebirdgyros.com

[asra]

Jeez RossSounds to me like you could become a lifetime member of "Ye Luckye Bastardes" club. If you had been any higher you would have been a statistic. Glad you're still around to tell us your tale.Kevin

[asra]

KevinI look at it this way. This rebuild gives me the chance to change some of the components on my gyro I thought one day I would change.The rebuild is well under way. The gyro is at Jack Allens and we have been busy. It has been stipped down and all the bent parts replaced. Engine mount and suspension rebuilt/replaced as well as a complete new control system. New mast and new keel sections as well as a new tail.My large Goodwin tank survived, those things are tough.I thought it was time for the annual service. Just got to look at this as an expensive opportunity to upgrade.Sorry about the image qualityImage Insert: 8.19

[birdy]

Them's scary pics Ross.[and bring'n back bad memories too].Ignorance is bliss............but only till you realise you were.

[asra]

Holy smoke Ross. Now I realise how lucky I was to recieve that phone call from you at the "Parsons" ranch while I was about to get on the boat to Rottnest Island!!!Geeez, as my wife Eril said to me after my close encounter with Dave Bs control system, "there must still be more things for you to do down here yet!!!!!!"Thanks for the candid recall of events and the pics.Aussie Paul.[]www.firebirdgyros.com

[asra]

RossThat's quite a bit of twisted metal you climbed out of! I'm glad to hear it's not put you off flying gyros again. My friend Andy Kitson is in the same situation of re-building after he had an engine out in his 532 engined Cricket at the end of September, his electrics stopped sparking at 800ft, he chose his field but he had to come in steeply over some power lines, unfortunately what looked like a flat field from 800ft had a significant downslope to it, into wind which matched his flare and a hedged bank was looming up quickly, so flaring even more he contacted the bank just as the rotor hit the ground behind and inverted him into the hedge. He clambered out unscathed, and within 5 minutes there was an ambulance, fire truck, and police in attendance, not to mention about 20 kids from a large housing estate nearby, oh and a herd of curious cows! The rotors and head had ripped clean off the mast.Andy is in the process of re-building and improving as far as the CAA will let him, so hopefully we will be formation flying again in the spring.Kevin

[asra]

[]Ross the blades you were using who's were they ?and how many hours did you have flying them ?The control stick was it a pump setup ?You mensioned not noticing any bird strike at the time.Do you belive the blades just failed ?Safe Flying!!!!Regards Sam.

[Brian]

I had an engine out at approx 20 feet with a good 20 knot tailwind, straight ahead of me were really deep gutters and to have touched down would have seen a serious accident. Without thinking, I hit full rudder keeping the gyro level with the stick and touched down at the same time I was facing the wind resulting in a nil ground roll avoiding going into the gutter's.A metal tab on the coil had broken off and caused the engine out.I know under duress its not easy but its important to know that you can do a full 180 rudder turn without power very quickly [at low altitude] but keep the gyro level please cause at low level the sink rate is quick !!You never know how far you can go, till you get there !

[asra]

The rebuild of G5601 is now complete [][][]and on Saturday the 28th she flew again. Just a few hours of testing including lots of motor testing ground testing and one very very nervous circuit. 60 days on the ground is much too long.The results are looking good only need some minor mods to shape of the stick, some different pitch blocks for the prop and all should be OK. [^][^]I'll need some time to regain my confidence so I'll take it easy for a while. It was a strange feeling to fly and feel so apprehensive.See you all at the CoomaRoss B