Man walks away from Whangarei gyrocopter crash

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A Northland gyrocopter pilot is lucky to have walked away from a crash landing at Whangarei Airport but his aircraft has been written off.

Whangarei Airport manager Mike Chubb said the middle aged man was landing the light aircraft in windy conditions about 10.45am when it tipped onto its side at the edge of the runway.

"It wasn't an emergency landing, he was just doing a normal landing and he's cocked it up somehow,'' he told APNZ.

"I think he lost a bit of directional control, he was coming down and a wind gust caught him and he's probably touched down when the aircraft was moving sideways, relative to the ground. That's probably just flipped it onto its back.''

Mr Chubb said the rotor blades "smashed themselves to bits''.

The pilot, 'Rusty' Russell, said he tried to right the aircraft when it started tipping about 4m from the runway, but it was too late - the rotor blades had already hit the ground.

He had to be helped out of the cockpit but was unhurt.

Mr Russell said the aircraft would now be going to the dump.

"I think I'll stick to fixed wing flying,'' he said.

Mr Chubb said the gyrocopter had been cleared from the runway.

"We just rolled it back up on its wheels and towed it away.''

The gyrocopter had been based at Dargaville Airport for over a year but had recently been relocated to Whangarei over the holiday period.

Police and firefighters were called but stood down.