Ken Rehler

[BeefBear]

The news of Ken Rehler's death has unsettled me a bit. I thought he was a cautious pilot and had some hours under his belt but it all seemed to come to nought a few days ago. Is this just of of those things that happen or is there something out there about gyro's that we are missing in all the conversations?

The circumstances of his death covers a few pages on the American forum, as well it should, and while we might speculate upon the reasons for his demise, its the simple thought that an experienced pilot that has come unstuck worries me.

Ted

[bones]

Ted i've kept my nose out of it so far, but just reading the lines and between them i feel the weather was outside his comfort zone, i think someone else said the same thing, if you think its too rough for you then it is, its that simple, when ya get to the stage of thinking that you can handle the conditions, thne its time for your first stack :poke:

[BeefBear]

Mark,

Whilst I can appreciate your point here, I wonder what's the difference between pushing your boundries to expand your experience and that which puts you in extreme danger. Most of us are fairly conservative by nature. We can analysize that we can easily perform, that which is slightly outside our normal behavoiur but apparently not that which an lead to expereiences beyond our capacity.

The nearest analogy that I can relate to is playing golf. YOu head out with a few mates to play golf, and during the game you go through a number of shots that you think you can play. Some come off and others .... well its good that you can laugh about it. At the end of the day, its just a game. YO put the ball and clubs away and all is well. But in flying at the end of the day, after getting into a situation, if you survive you are damn lucky. If you're not you don't go home.

I've read posts on the American forum which suggest that Ken was flying in conditions which was beyond his experience, others suggest a mechanical outcome, whilst others suggest a medical outcome.

Regardless of the reasons for his death, if you went flying with some mates and you thought that the weather was outside the normal conditions (not just for yourself) for your mate's ability would you say" Let's not go today" and would your mate respect your decision?

[rotor]

Ted,

Ken had only just joined our forum and from all accounts he was as you say a very experienced Gyro Pilot. Sometimes it doesn't matter how cautious you are ... things just work against you.

Mark, there were conflicting reports about the weather conditions - one said blustery while the other said 10-15 so who knows! We'll get a lot of speculation whatever the case.

I guess the reason may eventually come out in the wash. In the meantime we'll have to sit back and ponder why.

rotor

[russ]

[quote=BeefBear ]

Ted...good point. This scinario has happened to me on countless occasions, or similar to.
Pilot with big hrs, excellent skills, top machine is goin somewhere. Weather is interesting, to say the least, but this pilot is cool with that. Another less skilled, low houred pilot mate wants to come too. Hey ted he says, I'm coming too. Ted KNOWS his mate is marginal........nar mate, be best if you stayed local this day. No mate he says.......no worries, I'll be fine he says, flown in shit before.....no worries
Ted is not happy.......concerned etc etc. Reluctantly ted says OK......off they fly

2000ft AGL, 90 mins later......ted can't see his mate, does some orbits tryin to see him, there he is bowt 4 mile back, OK , let him catch up and together keep going to the destination......land

Ted walks over to his mate.........good flite aye, bit rough tho, visibility shithouse too.....
His mate is as white as a sheet, got the shakes maybe........geez thinks ted, I * *f@#$%N should have said NO to him..............BUT he said he was OK with the weather, said he ..................geez

So what I'm sayin here is........................

Too many newbies,low timers etc.........read,hear, that gyros can handle any shyte thrown at em......
[ therefore they will be OK]

Too many of the same pilots don't want to admit to limited skills..........[marcho thing]

Too many pilots prematurely wana follow the bigger boys to the good spots, and NO is not OK


buggered if I know..........

[rotor]

Good point Rus,

One that I'm familiar with not having to many hours up. From my own experience I've never be scared to say "I'll sit this one out" if I don't feel happy with the weather or the distance to be flown!

[BeefBear]

Russ, I'd be very disappointed with you if you thought the weather would be a problem and you didn't say "Ted, you better sit this one out"