TOM BASS PARK HOUSTON DEATH

TOM BASS PARK HOUSTON DEATH

Can someone please tell me what happened today. Went out to park to fly and gate was closed with a sign that said closed until further notice. Found a sheriff's deputy who told me that someone had been hit in the neck by a heli and bled to death about 1PM today. Will someone who was there please tell of this traggic accident. Thanks Ross death

that is not good man.
hope that was not what really happened.
god bless his family.

I got word of that too! God, it's terrible! If anyone has any info about that, please share......

I have seen some of the guys from there, they always come to our fly-ins. Really nice guys.That's terrible. Does anybody know anymore info?

My condolences. Hope this isn't as bad as it sounds. My prayers are with the situation.

Thanks, John Cadwell

Just saw that this story will be on local news station KTRK channel 13 at 10 P.M. for people in the Houston area. It has not been posted on their web site KTRK.com yet. Have felt sick all afternoon over this. Ross

Hadn't made it to the Houston newspaper yet, at least the on-line edition. It was updated at 6:58 when I checked.

What section of town is the park in? I used to live north in Spring.

Park is owned by Harris county and is at 288 & beltway 8.

Update.....

Gentlemen & Ladies,
Sadly it's true.............the Houston Heli community is deeply disheartened at the loss of our fellow heli friend Ron Kyle.

Today sometime around lunch I received a call from one of our local pilots that Ron had been hit by a heli. He watched the entire event occur. Here is what I know as of this time.....

Ron was helping a another pilot(don't know his name at this time) for the past couple of weekends on a 60 size heli. Well, today they got it in the air and Ron was flying it and determined that it was good to go. He handed the transmitter back to the owner who took the heli into a hover. I have heard that it was about 5' high and not far enough out but I can't confirm that yet. Nevertheless, the heli reportedly piroetted around(unknown as to mechanical failure or pilot input). From another second hand conversation I heard that the heli was now nose in and lurched towards the pilot and Ron. The pilot yelled "Duck Ron!" and managed to get out of the way. Unfortunately Ron didn't............(DEEP pause here fellas.... ) The blades contacted Ron at the jugular vein and he hit the ground. From what I hear he was unconscious from that point forward. Justheli's called 911 but from what I hear 35-40 minutes later the paramedics arrived. Ron died in their hands and we lost him.

If you are in the Houston television area CBS will be broadcasting an segment on it at 10:00.

To this day I have never heard of a fatality with RC helicopters. I know that I have heard of a couple of fixed wing deaths but this really hits home guys.

God bless you Ron! We are REALLY REALLY going to miss you!!!!

Sad..

My prayers are with his family.

Jason Stiffey
Fly Fast....Live Slow...

Man that is really sad. I don't know the guy but can relate. I worry about these machines we fly. Some folks I fly with fly their heli so close to themselves there is no way they could ever get out of the way if something went wrong.

Also, I worry about the spectators who gather around and don't pay attention to the helis/planes when they're in the air.

I guess this sort of thing is inevitable, just sorry to hear it happened and my thoughts go to all the friends and family of the poor soul who lost his life today. Fortunately, these accidents are rare. Let's hope they remain that way. I can think of how these kinds of tragedies could seriously impact our hobby.

Hopefully some good will come from this, let's all take a hard look at safety and stop and think about how dangerous this equipment can be. Never get complacent or jaded, safety first. respect your gear, maintain it and fly within your ability and never fly an aircraft you're not sure is flight worthy, your life just may depend on it.

Raymond

Predator Gasser SE/231 X 2
Century Helicopters

Sad ! God Bless Ron's family

It is a very sad day. God Bless Ron's family.

Philip

My sincerest regrets for a fellow flyer, though we have never met.

My prayers are with his family too.

Dave

TOM BASS PARK HOUSTON DEATH

I offer my condolences to the family of our lost heli flyer.

Mark

Please!!, tell us that this DID NOT HAPPEN!!!.......

It is so Sad.

All the pilot should learn from this accident.

Avoid any dangerous fly action, and beware of all the non - feight pilot.

Avoiding any dangerous flight action would have us all flying paper airplanes. Does anyone know exactly what happened? Without using names.

This topic was merged and that is why my post makes little sense

http://www.khou.com/topstories/stor...h.12011f8f.html
follow the url to the local paper

Man killed by model helicopter
10:00 PM CST on Sunday, November 2, 2003

By Jeremy Desel / 11 News

HOUSTON -- A bizarre accident with a model helicopter killed a Houston man Sunday afternoon.

The victim was watching the radio-controlled aircraft at Tom Bass Park in southwest Harris County.

KHOU-TV
The helicopter that killed the victim is fuel-powered and radio-controlled.
"They can get up to some pretty high speeds," said Sgt. Hudson with the Harris County Sheriff's Department.

Traffic was grounded after the accident as sheriff's investigators tried to figure out what happened to cause the death of 41-year-old of southwest Houston.

"He was going through some flight maneuvers with the helicopter and he turned the controls over to the student and the helicopter got away from him," said Hudson.

The student, who police did not identify, owns the model involved in the incident.

KHOU-TV
Some children were reportedly in the park when the accident happened and may have seen it.
Its 2-inch wide blades are made of fiberglass, but the engine spins with enough power to make them dangerous -- especially if the craft gets out of control -- which appeared to be the case Sunday.

"Came back toward the two individuals and the helicopter struck the deseased in the throat area," said Hudson.

The impact of the crash killed
almost immediately.

Investigators say the man operating the helicopter had been in one of this areas ten chapters of the Academy of Model Aeronautics for about nine months. That organization has more than 170,000 members nationwide.

We are told the student was working toward a flight certification -- but had yet to complete it.

The impact of the crash killed Kyle almost immediately.

There are designated areas for flying and for watching at the park. Both men were in the operations area at the time.