EAA implements collision avoidance procedures

The NTSB issued a revised final report regarding a fatal midair collision at the 2023 AirVenture involving a gyroplane and a helicopter. The report lists changes that EAA made to procedures within the area surrounding the grass runway used by ultralights, powered parachutes, and other light aircraft.

The new rules are meant to give event officials more control over FFZ activities by establishing standard procedures including specific briefings for all FFZ operations, a standard traffic pattern for all aircraft in the FFZ with the exception of powered parachutes, standardized locations for aircraft spotters during all types of FFZ operations, and a designated “sterile corridor for traffic on base leg over the north/south paved road.” EAA has also enacted a one-strike rule for anyone who fails to follow FFZ procedures.

The FFZ is an area within AirVenture that caters to ultralights, powered parachutes, and rotorcraft, with flight activities generally taking place during mornings and evenings. Operations typically are divided into designated time periods arranged to allow aircraft of similar performance to share the traffic pattern.

During last year’s AirVenture a Rotorway 162F helicopter was flying behind an ELA Eclipse 10 gyroplane on the base leg of the FFZ traffic pattern when the gyroplane began a 360-degree left turn. As the gyroplane neared completion of the turn, it collided with the helicopter, according to the NTSB report.

The accident resulted in the deaths of the helicopter pilot and passenger and injuries to the gyroplane pilot and passenger. Probable cause of the accident, the NTSB said, was the gyroplane pilot’s failure to see and avoid the helicopter and the pilot’s decision to execute “a prohibited maneuver in the traffic pattern.”

The NTSB report cited a witness who attended the daily rotorcraft briefings and said other pilots had expressed concerns about gyroplane operations. During the briefing officials told participants “to stop performing 360-[degree] turns and spirals while in the traffic pattern,” according to the report.