71 Year Old Pilot Crawls From Gyrocopter Forced Landing At Rhyll, Phillip Is

[red750]

News reports:

 

http://www.watoday.com.au/victoria/chopper-down-in-phillip-island-crash-20120626-20zlt.html

 

http://au.news.yahoo.com/vic/latest/a/-/article/14041375/elderly-pilot-escapes-helicopter-crash/

 

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[Guest Michael Coates]

Subaru...... another lucky boy.

 

 

[mnewbery]

Gyrocopter not equal helicopter. Although if Subaru made 'copter engines, I'd like to see that! Note the Nakajima Homare doesn't count, in my opinion, as a Subaru engine. The news post variously reported the aircraft as a gyro and a helo

 

 

[willedoo]

Saw it on the nightly TV news. They described the pilot as an elderly gentleman and said he made a miraculous escape, particularly considering his age. So I was expecting them to report his age as being in his 80's at the very least least, and was quite surprised when they said he was only 71.

 

I suppose to a thirty year old news reader, 71 must seem ancient. Most of the people I know at that age are still in the workforce, fit as a fiddle (well almost) and out there enjoying life and doing everything that they were doing in their 50's. I wouldn't have thought a 71 year old pilot was a big novelty, but that's the media for you.

 

Cheers, Willie.

 

 

[Guest avi8tr]

I know the pilot Don. Very experienced, flies every day. Owns upwards of 5 gyro's I believe. Based on the pictures it looks like that one is the record holder (under previous ownership) from Alice Springs to Darwin.

 

He could land that thing on a dime as they say, literally!

 

 

[red750]

Sorry, no larger version of this photo:

 

[ATTACH=full]1271[/ATTACH]

 

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[Scotty 1]

A radio interview with the pilot.

 

[media=vimeo]44733387[/media]

 

 

[Guest Michael Coates]

I thought he did a great interview, all positive.