Gyrocopter crashes into mobile home, kills two

Published: Updated:
Gyrocopter crashes into a mobile home in Sebring, Florida. Photo via Highlands County Sheriff Twitter account.
Gyrocopter crashes into a mobile home in Sebring, Florida. Photo via Highlands County Sheriff Twitter account.

A gyrocopter crashed into a mobile home in Sebring, Florida, Tuesday, killing two men in the airborne machine while injuring a person on the ground.

Christopher Lord, 45, was piloting the gyrocopter. He was taking passenger Christopher Brugger, 52, to an airport in Manatee County. The pair departed from Sebring Regional Airport, according to a press release from Highlands County Sheriff’s Office.

Lord was the owner of Gyroplaneguy, Inc., a company based at the Sebring Regional Airport. The company website states Lord had several years of experience as a pilot, instructor and test pilot, including having flown “thousands of hours in over 34 models of gyroplanes.”

A gyrocopter is similar to a helicopter — it was invented several years before its counterpart, in the early 1920s — as both are highly maneuverable at low speeds. Gyrocopters have a savings advantage in upkeep and operation in comparison to helicopters.

But gyrocopters are viewed as more dangerous to operate, which is why helicopters have become the dominant flying machine in shuttling passengers from one place to another, such as in the role as airborne ambulances.

Witnesses said the experimental aircraft appeared to be in distress prior to it clipping a power line, then crashing into a mobile home, setting it ablaze. The owners of the mobile home were not home at the time of the accident, which was near 2:50 p.m., per the press release.

The man injured from the gyrocopter crash was working on a nearby mobile home. He was later taken to the hospital after suffering burns to his arm and leg. One of the two adjacent mobile homes suffered massive damages while the other only slightly.

The Highlands County Sheriff’s Office will handle the death investigations. The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the crash. Both federal agencies will be on scene Wednesday, according to the press release.

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