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Helicopter pilot who crashed in Gainesville was training for license
Helicopter pilot who crashed in Gainesville was training for license.
By NATHAN CRABBE Sun staff writer A helicopter pilot who crashed Tuesday in Gainesville said he was still in training to get his license, but he said that training helped him escape serious harm. Continue to 2nd paragraph Tony Soldano, 38, of New Port Richey, crashed his helicopter at about 11 a.m. in the parking lot of the Gainesville Raceway, 11211 N. County Road 225. He suffered just a scraped arm and bruised knee. Soldano said he's an experienced airplane pilot who is seeking a license to fly a helicopter. He said he works with a company building the roof on the raceway's new tower and needed to come to Gainesville to sign a permit. He said the license process requires him to take a 50-mile solo flight, so he decided to take the flight from St. Petersburg to sign the permit. "I figured I might as well kill two birds with one stone," he said. He said he was headed to the Gainesville Regional Airport, passing the raceway to look at the job, when he experienced problems. He said he was about 400 feet in the air when he felt vibrations, and the helicopter lost power. He said the raceway's grassy parking lot provided a good place to land. He said the training for his helicopter license was fresh in his mind, so he knew how to land without major problems. The helicopter hit the ground, bounced and landed on its side. The helicopter rotors were mangled, and the aircraft lost about five to 10 gallons of fuel. Alachua County Sheriff's Office spokesman Sgt. Keith Faulk declined comment pending a possible investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration or National Transportation Safety Board. Soldano said the accident won't dissuade him from again flying a helicopter. "Get back on the horse is all you can do," he said. Nathan Crabbe can be reached at 352-338-3176 or crabben@gville sun.com. Good job :ok: |
I must be getting cynical in my old age, Gainesville raceway is not enroute from St Petersburg to Gainsville regional, you would pretty much have to fly past the airfield by 5miles. The guy needed to be at Gainesville raceway to sign a contract.
No reason why a solo student couldnt land off-airport if appropriately instructed or even overfly the raceway to have a looksee before heading to the airport but something about the whole thing smells fishy to me. |
This guy is probably going to be in trouble. Student pilots are prohibited from conducting flight "in furtherance of a business" and stopping of to sign a contract will probably be seen as doing so. Just because he was also using the flight to meet flight expience requirements for a private pilot checkride doesn't give him the privilege to stop off and conduct business. Especially, if as PhilJ said that he went out of his way to do so.
They will probably ask the flight instructor who signed him off a few questions about whether or not he was a aware of what his student had planned. Reguardless of this, it seems that he did a good job of getting it down. |
In the UK 'student' pilots are not allowed to land other than at a licensed airfield, that way the emergency services are going to be on hand in events such as this.
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In the UK 'student' pilots are not allowed to land other than at a licensed airfield As to him combining business with training, its the insurance company that may give him the hard time. |
I know it seems rediculous that in the UK we have to do all the training on airfields, then after people have gained their licence we then have to "train" them to land off airfield but thats the wisdom of our CAA!
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Correct, under the FARs he is not a 'student pilot' as he already holds a fixed wing pilots licence. As a minimum, he would have only needed an SFAR-73 R22 PIC endorsement from his CFI for solo flight.
Billywizz - Confined area landings are included as part of the JAA PPL Syllabus, not after the licence has been issued. |
manfromuncle
confined areas are indeed part of the syllabus, but how many airfields do you know have realistic confined areas? (hence my last comment about "train" them to land off airfield). If you landed at a private site while training and something happened would the insurance cover you? Unless things have changed, off airfield landings are not allowed while training in the UK. Please correct me if I'm mistaken. |
His private pilot privileges can only be exercised when he is flying an airplane, not when he is flying a helicopter. He is not able to act as PIC in a helicopter without an endorsement to do so. The 61.31 endorsement only extends to him the ability to act as PIC, nothing else. 61.31 also states no passengers.
So this is kind of a grey area. Yes, he is a private pilot, but really only when he is operating an aircraft for which he is rated in. |
Isn't a Robbie right hand drive? Just wondering if the left hand door was off during the flight or if it was removed after. The old seat cushions just waiting to be suck out if door removed in flight and noone sitting on them.
Good job in getting it down though. |
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