A sixty-something man died on Sunday in Sos (Lot-et-Garonne) in the crash of the small motorized propeller-driven vehicle he was flying, we learned from the fire department and the gendarmerie.
The 64-year-old native of the Toulouse region, the pilot of this gyroplane-type device, a small helicopter-like aircraft, was trapped under the device and already died when the rescue services, alerted by witnesses at midday, arrived, said firefighters.
An open investigation
According to the gendarmerie, witnesses saw the aircraft catch fire following the explosion of its engine, before falling sharply and crashing to the ground.
The investigation, which should make it possible to determine the exact circumstances of the accident, was entrusted to the air transport gendarmerie brigade (GTA) of Mérignac (Gironde).
A gyroplane is an aircraft whose lift is provided by a freewheeling rotor and whose propulsion is made possible by a propeller and an engine.
