Celtgreen
08-01-2006, 10:15 AM
An epic tail of woe (the Gopher hole!)
I recently obtained the permission of a kindly farmer to fly out of his field. It was a good day to fly my Phoenix Aero one seat PPC. I landed my nimble little bird nicely in a section of the field that hadn’t been mowed and the grass was about 6” deep. I packed up my chute and notice my trailer was a ways away. I didn’t feel like pushing it so I started the motor and thought I’d just drive over to my trailer. I sat in the seat not thinking to buckle up since it was going to be a slow short trip. As an after thought I put on my helmet (unstrapped) since I didn’t want to hold on to it.
I started motoring through the field toward my trailer at an intentionally slow speed of about 7 MPH when suddenly I learned the hazards of gopher holes the hard way. My Phoenix suddenly came to an abrupt stop. I was thrown forward (because I didn’t wear my seat belts) and my head smashed against the frontal bars. I was seeing stars! The motor cut out from the impact.
I got out of my PPC, dazed, and found my front wheel had fallen into a steep gopher hole that was totally invisible due to the grass. The goose neck that held the front wheel mount was broken and the wheel turned obscenely sideways. One of my prop blades was cracked from hitting the prop ring due to the sudden jolt. Other than that my PPC survived the impact well and sustained no other damage. After 100 hours of safe flying without incident this was my first accident. Remember most accident occur on the ground.
I called the good folks at Phoenix Powered Parachute and ordered the parts needed to fix my bird. Fortunately, Phoenix PPC is still in business and has not fallen victim to Sport Pilot like most PPC manufacturers.
The lessen I learned from this mishap is that I should not have landed or motored my PPC through a patch of field I had not inspected before hand. Second, I should have had my seat belts on. At just 7 MPH I was thrown forward with significant force. If I didn’t have my helmet on me would have easily been knocked out and suffered a serious concussion. I had 3 days of headaches afterward.
Beware the gopher!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I recently obtained the permission of a kindly farmer to fly out of his field. It was a good day to fly my Phoenix Aero one seat PPC. I landed my nimble little bird nicely in a section of the field that hadn’t been mowed and the grass was about 6” deep. I packed up my chute and notice my trailer was a ways away. I didn’t feel like pushing it so I started the motor and thought I’d just drive over to my trailer. I sat in the seat not thinking to buckle up since it was going to be a slow short trip. As an after thought I put on my helmet (unstrapped) since I didn’t want to hold on to it.
I started motoring through the field toward my trailer at an intentionally slow speed of about 7 MPH when suddenly I learned the hazards of gopher holes the hard way. My Phoenix suddenly came to an abrupt stop. I was thrown forward (because I didn’t wear my seat belts) and my head smashed against the frontal bars. I was seeing stars! The motor cut out from the impact.
I got out of my PPC, dazed, and found my front wheel had fallen into a steep gopher hole that was totally invisible due to the grass. The goose neck that held the front wheel mount was broken and the wheel turned obscenely sideways. One of my prop blades was cracked from hitting the prop ring due to the sudden jolt. Other than that my PPC survived the impact well and sustained no other damage. After 100 hours of safe flying without incident this was my first accident. Remember most accident occur on the ground.
I called the good folks at Phoenix Powered Parachute and ordered the parts needed to fix my bird. Fortunately, Phoenix PPC is still in business and has not fallen victim to Sport Pilot like most PPC manufacturers.
The lessen I learned from this mishap is that I should not have landed or motored my PPC through a patch of field I had not inspected before hand. Second, I should have had my seat belts on. At just 7 MPH I was thrown forward with significant force. If I didn’t have my helmet on me would have easily been knocked out and suffered a serious concussion. I had 3 days of headaches afterward.
Beware the gopher!!!!!!!!!!!!!!