He went down in Sebring. His student dies too.
We all will miss him.
Such a tragic event.
https://www.wtsp.com/article/news/local ... -609615327

Apparently according to witnesses "something fell off" the machine before the damn thing fell out of the sky.
But again. I would NOT trust any so-called "witnesses" to accurately state anything.
He was a good stick and this was a fiery crash. Crashed right into a mobile home.
If he had control over the machine he wouldn't have crashed it into a home.
Such a loss. He was so young!
Damn.....

Chris Lord was a true gentleman! He did my gyro sign off. He was a great dad, a real family guy. So sad. :(

He will be missed.
He was AWESOME.
I feel for the family and hope they are without need.
PRA is gonna start a Go Fund Me for the family, they will truly need help
R.I.P. Brother

This is just too sad for words ... yet another exceptionally good man gone in a flash ! His kids still need him ... not yet all grown! It is SO senseless ... yet the faithful say GOD has a "plan" ... In times like these "the plan" seems too cruel! SO sad & gutted ...RIP "Gyroplane guy" ... you will be greatly missed!

It had to be a catastrophic mechanical failure ... like Steve Weir's ... nothing makes sense that he could not have made a good emergency landing in a nearby open area or on a street! "Engine popping noises" ...were reported by witnesses to Jim's crash ... were in fact" rotor barking" ...with a distressed rotor in an impossible flight profile!

SO SO sad. ... Gyro community please rally around Crissa and kids ...they will need much financial help I believe!

So So sad, I liked Chris, I did not know him well, just from Bensen Days, Every time I saw him He was smiling,
I am so sorry for his family.

Looking at the pictures it seems as if he did hit some power lines just before touching down.
That could have made a big difference in the outcome.
It's so senseless......
So young....
I think John Rountree will setup a go fund me page for the kids.
If that happens I will post it here OK?
I can't imagine how last night must have gone for his family.
He was so happy about his daughter's student pilot's license......
Rest in peace bro.

After some digging it seems he might have have a loss of flight control. Pitch from a possible broken cable. Lost control and nosed over a cirrus was doing touch and goes and heard him call may day and lean back.

I've never met Chris but I'm sure he was an outstanding guy. Such a sad time for Chris' family, passengers family and the family that lost their home.

I thought they were setting up a go fund me page....
Sorry my bad. The PRA setup a facebook donation page instead.
I was about to donate but it wants my physical address and add a credit card etc etc....
Not happening. Not facebook! Ever.
Soooooo I suggest a Go Fund Me page.
Facebook is terrible with your information people!

Yeah, FWIW FB already have all my info, so I donated there. Des, which gyro was he flying, the ELA?

Hopefully they'll be able to determine if/what failed so the rest of the Cavalon owners can get their machines corrected.

You can donate on the P.R.A. page if you want.
You do not have to be a member.
Just write Chris Lord in the box for donation.

Thanks! That worked like a charm
If anyone else wanted to donate through PRA click this here http://pra.org/donation.aspx

Thanks for the info Jake and Gabor for the link

Just a heads up especially for Cavalon and Calidus owners; check the mast, cheek plates etc for cracks. And the control cable connections. There is an SB out from Autogyro for 100 hour checks, specifically for Calidus, but Cavalon is the same design. And early reports seem to indicate probable control cable connection failure in Chris's case. Not wanting to ignite any kind of controversy, but there are now a lot of Eurogyros out there in the US with increasing number of hours. I'd suspect as well that people are putting more hours on these gyros with cross country trips etc than they possible were with homebuilts. I don't think it's necessarily an indictment of the Eurogyros to simply say higher number of hours, will mean more failures and therefore checks and fixes needed.

That would make sense. Thank you for the info.
Apparently an airplane in the pattern heard the Mayday and looked over and saw the gyro pitching nose up and then fall.
Sounds like pitch control loss.

I could understand control cable problems.....but the masts are different on the Cavalon vs the Calidus.
I will be checking mine closely.