Gyrocopter crash kills foreigner

[Mike J]

I wonder if this is one of the gyrocopter that would occasionally fly over our place here in Moalboal?

https://cebudailynews.inquirer.net/349416/pilot-error-eyed-as-possible-cause-in-argao-gyrocopter-crash

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Investigators are looking at pilot error as the possible cause to explain the death of a foreigner after his gyrocopter crashed in Argao town last November 5. 

Citing initial findings, Police Captain Jeremie Shiella Gurtiza of Argao Police Station said the wheels of the gyrocopter owned by Kauley Ferris, 65, hit the fence shortly after take-off. 

Gurtiza said investigators believed Ferris lost control of the aircraft after it hit the fence, and shortly before crashing onto land in Barangay Jampang, Argao. 

“The distance between the crash site and his house was not that far,” Gurtiza said in Cebuano. 

Read: Pilot dies as gyrocopter crashes in Argao

Police said they suspected the cause of the crash was due to pilot error, however, they were not discounting other explanations. 

“We haven’t closed the investigation yet. It could be pilot error but it could also be other reasons,” explained Gurtiza. 

Police also said Ferris was a retired pilot who was living in Argao town with his Filipina wife. 

They added that they discovered that he owned at least 12 gyrocopters, and all were registered to him. 

“All gyrocopters were registered. From what we know so far, the victim hovers over Argao every afternoon as his hobby,” said Gurtiza. 

Argao is a first-class municipality located approximately 71 kilometers southeast of Cebu City.

 

 

 

[GeoffH]

Sad news, I've never flown gyro copters just fixed wing but it's never good to hear of a pilot fatality :(

 

 

[Jollygoodfellow]

1 hour ago, Mike J said:

I wonder if this is one of the gyrocopter that would occasionally fly over our place here in Moalboal?

I wouldn't think there would be too many gyrocopters in the Philippines so probably so. In another story it said he owned 12 for sightseeing tours.

[Shady]

Paramotor > Gyrocopter

[GeoffH]

12 minutes ago, Shady said:

Paramotor > Gyrocopter

Light Sport Aircraft > Paramotor > Gyrocopter 

[Mike J]

This is a paramotor: 

 

This is a gyrocopter like the one that crashed.  Two vary different types of light aircraft.  The one that would fly over us appeared to be a single seater.

 

[GeoffH]

The twin seat gyro copters are mainly used for training, the paramotor > gyro copter thing was a bit tongue in cheek IMO.

Pilots of one type of aircraft tend to make bad jokes about other types of aircraft and anything that relys on spinning egg whisks overhead tends to get a particularly hard time :)

eg Helicopters don't fly, they just beat the air into submission and Helicopters don't fly, they're just so ugly the earth is repelled by them.

FYI this below is one of the light sport aircraft of mine that I had during the time I had the hanger with a flying school in it, it's a Jabiru LSA-55 (in this case with Aussie ultra light registration but being factory built they can have full normal aircraft registratration and some do.  These use a version of the type approved horizontally opposed Jabiru 4 cylinder aeroplane engine, one of the issues with a lot of gyro copters is that they use 2 stroke Rotax motors which tend to have significantly more issues.
 

Edited November 9, 2020 by GeoffH