G4026

ken watson · 28-05-2007, 08:15 PM

Wind- Nil
Strip- 400m surrounded by deep ravines and thick bush 1400ft asl
Gyro- Direct drive turbo ea81 with 54"wooden prop
The gyro was being flown to determine flight characteristics. Several circuits and successful landings had been made and it appeared to perform normally. Upon leaving the ground on the final time all seemed normal until the pilot realised the controls were jammed in the almost full back position and the machine was slowly turning to the left. All inputs seemed futile and the engine was at max but the machine was slowly getting behind the power curve. The pilot was trying to turn right with no success to stay away from a substantial cliff and bushland.The max height reached was about 150 ft and had begun to fall sideways to the ground, at about 50ft the pilot bit the bullet and turned left. He regained marginal control and by sum freak occurrence the machine arrived at the ground right way up but struck heavily causing total destruction of the machine.
The pilot escaped with minor injuries.
The machine was inspected immediately following the accident and it was discovered that the 2 piece control rods had rotated over centre on the left side. The rods had recently been modified by a senior TA from one piece to two piece and the assembly allowed the knuckle to roll over centre. Mast flexing while on the ground may have been a contributing factor.
Ken Watson (one lucky bastard and he knows it).

niquenaque · 28-05-2007, 09:29 PM

Link:

http://www.asra.org.au/smf/index.php?topic=1940.0

Cheers,

Nick

Mitch · 29-05-2007, 09:47 AM

G'Day Ken,

So glad to hear your OK Mate.....

I dont put a whole lot of faith in TA's....bit like Dr's....it always pays to get a second opinion.......not that I'm suggesting you should have, simply that personally I think TA's all have differing opinions and that this needs to change. As I believe ASRA is addressing this problem, enough said from me.

Best thing you did Ken was getting down yourself in one piece, then getting straight back in the saddle. After a year and half, I had three 3/4 hr lessons with Kev Traeger before I shook off the fear of flying a single place again.

Anyway Ken, sad to hear of this gyro being a wreck now BUT very pleased it was you that walked away and not some new bloke being mourned.

Well done Ken hope to catch you at the next NATS.

Cheers,

Mitch.

Brian · 29-05-2007, 06:12 PM

Glad to hear you are okay Ken, good work to get down in one piece!! Brave man to try left input, what made you try it ?

ken watson · 29-05-2007, 07:04 PM

Left was the last option I had and I thought if the bastard wants to go that way then I'll make it. Bit like cattle in a yard.It's hard when your being forced behind the power curve and forward is one way the stick wont move. The controls were still locked after the accident so we undid the rods to see why freed it up and bolted them back again only to discover that they locked after left input. It was camming over on left input and then when you attempt right you lock it in more. On the ground we discovered that full left and back would allow it to come back over. My left input only allowed limited movement but i think it must have helped a little . It stopped the sideways fall and believe it or not the wheels came back under with only feet to spare. I think it was almost 3 point landing. Now thats luck. My thoughts had gone from this is going to hurt to I'm going to die to I'm going to land it to no way . The warning signs had been there. Cliff had noticed that you could hold one set of rods still and still be able to move the head. Also on taxiing the stick was very heavy due to the ratio changing with movement.But everything seemed to move O>K and we both thought this bloke would Know whats right. After the crash we also noticed that when applying left stick at one point the head just drops full left and back with no stick movement. The left top mounting point drops more than an inch with no stick movement. To not notice this in my preflight is negligent, but what can I say for the bloke who designed, manufactured and assembled it. This can not be forgiven. We all make mistakes, but some can never admit theirs and believe their Knowledge and ability is beyond what it really is.The witness'to my accident believed that when they saw me dissappear falling sideways and then they heard a huge crash that survival was not possible. To look at the machine from a distance or in photos damage looks minimal, but up close there is almost nothing salvageable... Cliff reckons he was screaming while I was going down and said the impact sounded like a plane going in at 400k's. Another noisy bloody gyro. My neighbour who is a couple of k's away was there in an instant because of the noise. It must have been the huge big slap of the blades. Hope this makes everyone more cautious. Next time I fly I'll get a photo to explain why I didn't like going left.Ken

Birdy2 · 29-05-2007, 08:06 PM

Bloodyell Kenny, i agree, your one lucky critter mate.

But ill say now that the reason your telln us bout it is coz, even tho it seemed at the time you were go'n to die, you were still thinkn and didnt just sh1t yaself and hope for sum divine intervention. :

Recon its got sumthn to do with your past .

And yeh, we're all human and make mistakes ay.
Now rebuild and sink the boot in matey.

Echo 2 · 29-05-2007, 09:35 PM

Glad you're still in one piece , Captn'

I remember some time back there was a discussion on the articulation in control rods going over centre , it seems such a simple thing to check during the design/construction stage .
Max Tout sent me some pics when I was building G 1962 , & warned me of what could happen on a poorly designed system , that was over five years ago.

Echo