Photo credit: Wasatch County Sheriff's Department
HEBER, Utah — The Utah Highway Patrol confirms that a man piloting a gyrocopter crash-landed near U.S. Hwy. 189 and the Heber Valley Airport on Wednesday afternoon.
UHP spokesman Lt. Nick Street says that the pilot did not survive the crash.
A 911 caller reported that they saw the gyrocopter land north of the Heber Valley Airport in what the caller described as “the sewer fields.”
The caller said they watched the craft “nose dive,” but did not see any smoke or flames.
Classified by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as a rotorcraft within the “Experimental Amateur-Built Aircraft” category, a gyroplane’s upper rotor blades aren’t powered by an engine. Rather, the engine powers a back propeller that pushes the craft forward.
