Aerochute Einsteins

[turboplanner]

Out in the Moorabbin Training area south east of Melbourne this morning I heard the familiar sound of an Aerochute, then what appeared to be some panicked use of the throttle repeated several times.

 

I ran outside and could hear two of them in the cloud which had descended to a wispy soup at ground level. The throttles were trailing and the two of them began to appear out of the cloud descending straight towards our house, flying in formation.

 

I picked the best of a bad bunch of small paddocks without power lines and got ready to wave them towards it, when at maybe 150’ they did a 90 degree turn away from the paddocks and started climbing back into the cloud in which they quickly totally disappeared. At this point they were approximately over the Urban area of Patterson Lakes/Chelsea, and would have been below the minimum height, but climbing up towards one of the preferred IFR routes out of Moorabbin Airport.

 

Maybe they got back to their take off point, maybe they’re out there somewhere tangled in a power line, I don’t know.

 

One good thing is the training is deserted the morning because all the other pilots were smart.

 

One key lesson out of this is that prior to any flight a weather report is mandatory. Had one been obtained, and understood, these people would have done what all the others did this morning and stayed on the ground.

 

The next one is that even if the weather report said “great, come on up” which given the 20th Century telex code they might have understood it to say, if they had looked out and said “I’m licensed to fly VFR which requires me to be clear of cloud and have five kilometres visibility” the next assessments would have been “No, it is not possible to be clear of cloud when the cloud is down to the ground”, and “No I can only see about 500 metres on the ground so less up there”

 

So three key factors they are required to comply with were disregarded, and the flight was effectively IFR.

 

So, were they endorsed to fly IFR? I said no by the panicky throttle use and turn away from good landing spots.

 

Being Aerochute, you could argue that the danger is not as great as it would be in a Jabiru under the same conditions, that they could just cut the throttle and flop down into any paddock.

 

However, IFR is not just about controlling an aircraft, but navigating to a precise destination, away from any hidden obstructions, and other IFR traffic.

 

Where they were letting down was over a two square kilometre fill dump which might have looked level from the air, but is levelled only to dozer standard – ie with half metre ridges, has six metre holes and a few hundred pieces of wrecked kerb and channel.

 

Where they were letting down, the luckily were between three communications towers with the tops hidden by cloud, so they had a lucky break there.

 

There were also power lines right through the area, visible two or three hundred metres away through the haze on the ground, but high enough to be a hazard.

 

Apart from flying illegally over the urban area, the options for a letdown were reduced because of all the infrastructure.

 

Although they may still have been below the usual IFR climb out path, some guys just like to cruise through low.

 

If they had been carrying the correct map, they would have known this, and known that was a problematic turn direction.

 

And of course there was the question of whether they were endorsed to fly formation.

 

I have to ask myself who trained these people? Who manages them? What standards do they follow?

 

What comes next?

 

 

[Guest GraemeM]

Were they Aerochute or some other brand of powered parachute?

 

All powered parachutes are controled by Raa.

 

 

[turboplanner]

Looked like the characteristic squared lower section, but they were in and out of cloud. At times I could see the frame but not the chute.

 

 

[paulh]

GraemeM, is there a regulatory difference between powered parachutes ie Aerochute type and powered paragliders? I've been looking at the web sites for paragliders, paramotors and paramotors with a trike or quad buggy and got the impression that they were "registered" with HGFA and the pilots HGFA licenced. HGFA looks better than RA-Aus at the moment.

 

 

[503]

Aerochute a are a triangle when viewed from below,,powered para gliders some have 4 wheels so square? Aerochute a are to heavy for hgfa

 

 

[turboplanner]

They were descending directly towards me at low level Graeme, looked like this: http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ16o_-Ywqdb3bDqo2b3rEF_4oW60dF3htyZ0TSs8y1BMr7VOPZGQ

 

How do you feel about the standard of flying?

 

 

[Guest GraemeM]

I'm not defending anyone here, those blokes you are talking about can do that for themselves.

 

From your description of their flying it does not represent the RAA very well at all, but would be nice to hear the other side before making accusations.

 

I only asked about if it was an Aerochute or not because people tend to wrongly call all PPC's Aerochute. A bit like calling all open style ultralights Drifters. The Drifter owners would get a little tired of that. Judging from your description you may very well be correct in that they were Aerochutes.

 

I don't own an Arochute anymore. But I do have another brand of PPC and I don't like to be represented by cowboys.

 

Graeme.

 

 

[Cosmick]

Hi Turbo,

 

The marketing goal of all manufacturers would be to have their product generalized as its type as Gerni is for pressure cleaners and Victa used to be for mowers ( and by the way what happened to tht windup top with the release catch ).sounds like you are sure of the aircraft type so lets treat it as that. Aerochutes are a 503 or 582 rotax with a large rectangular chute. Theft are regulated by RAA Group D. They are subject to the same VFR regs as fixed wing, Trikes etc.

 

What these pilots were doing was wrong but it is important to blame the pilot and not the aircraft type.

 

 

[Aerochute Kev]

Pretty hard to defend if as you described Turbo. You did mention that the cloud "descended" to just above ground height so maybe they were already up in VMC and got caught? Still no excuse really. PPCs have a 300ft minimum, different from fixed wing, rotary or trikes. Still 1000ft over built up areas. It would however from your description seem they were lower than that.

 

We do have an advantage of being able to use a relatively small paddock for take-off/landing which makes finding areas easier but these places become hard to find if we get a bad reputation. With fewer Aerochutes around than other aircraft types it probably would not be hard to ask around and be able to track them down and ask for a "please explain".

 

 

[turboplanner]

Aerochutes are a 503 or 582 rotax with a large rectangular chute.

At one stage I got interested in buying one, got the brochures, got the photos, joined the forum and became very familiar with the aerochute appearance from all angles.

 

I didn't like the safety aspect of the roll bar, where people have broken arms in a rollover, broken legs trying to stop them with their feet, and the reports of line tangles in the prop. I'm sure you're going to tell me those are rare, but I came from a background where those things had been taken care of by design. So I've kept looking, seen the Hummer etc, and have been impressed by some of the new ones.

 

So I've seen the front on shapes of most of them, and I'm comfortable I saw aerochutes, but as you know with eyewitness accounts, they could still come out and say "It was us, and we were flying X"

 

 

[Cosmick]

I didn't like the safety aspect of the roll bar, where people have broken arms in a rollover, broken legs trying to stop them with their feet, and the reports of line tangles in the prop. I'm sure you're going to tell me those are rare, but I came from a background where those things had been taken care of by design. So I've kept looking, seen the Hummer etc, and have been impressed by some of the new ones.

Proper training and ongoing awareness takes care of those issues. If your not careful when taxiing a fixed wing you can also cause a lot of damage. The safety of the Aerochute speakers for itself, over 500 sold over near 30 years and not one fatality.

 

 

[DingerPPC]

At one stage I got interested in buying one, got the brochures, got the photos, joined the forum and became very familiar with the aerochute appearance from all angles.I didn't like the safety aspect of the roll bar, where people have broken arms in a rollover, broken legs trying to stop them with their feet, and the reports of line tangles in the prop. I'm sure you're going to tell me those are rare, but I came from a background where those things had been taken care of by design. So I've kept looking, seen the Hummer etc, and have been impressed by some of the new ones.

So I've seen the front on shapes of most of them, and I'm comfortable I saw aerochutes, but as you know with eyewitness accounts, they could still come out and say "It was us, and we were flying X"

Some folk fly,some folk spy . Hummer chute same as Aerochute with bigger motor .

 

 

[Yenn]

I have met one of those sort of aircraft with similar pilot abilities. Flying around below circuit height at Rods Bay and then later he was de rigging it in the centre of the runway about 20 mins before last light. He copped an earfull of my comments about his mental capacity, but I don't know if it has done any good.