'Canopy Wire Deflector Bars' - Past experience and current thinking

Might have helped he

AccidentoccurredMonday, February 19, 1990inCABINS, WV
Probable Cause Approval Date:09/21/1992
Aircraft:ROLLADEN-SCHNEIDER LS-6, registration:N511M
Injuries: 1 Fatal.
WITNESSES REPORTED SEEING THE GLIDER FLYING NORMALLY AT A LOW ALTITUDE
AND APPEARED AS IF IT WAS GOING TO LAND. DURING THE LANDING APPROACH,
THE GLIDER CONTACTED A POWER LINE WHICH SLICED THROUGH THE CANOPY,
FATALLY INJURING THE PILOT. THE GLIDER THEN DESCENDED TO THE TERRAIN AND
CONTACTED A BARBED WIRE FENCE PRIOR TO COMING TO REST. FLAPS WERE FOUND
IN THE FULL DOWN POSITION AND THE LANDING GEAR WAS EXTENDED. OTHER
PILOTS IN THE AREA REPORTED MODERATE TO SEVERE TURBULENCE AND STRONG
ROTOR ACTIVITY IN THE AREA OF THE ACCIDENT SITE.

The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable
cause(s) of this accident as follows:

* THE PILOT FAILED TO DETECT AND REMAIN CLEAR OF THE POWER LINE WHICH
CROSSED THE FIELD IN WHICH HE WAS ATTEMPTING TO LAND. CONTRIBUTING
TO THE ACCIDENT WAS THE MODERATE TO SEVERE TURBULENCE IN THE AREA AT
THE TIME OF THE ACCIDENT.




On 12/7/2015 8:44 AM, wrote:
On Monday, December 7, 2015 at 10:00:32 AM UTC-5, wrote:
The wire deflectors are no longer mandatory in the Netherlands, due to European regulations considering them to be a hinder to free trade inside the European Union (same with yellow car headlights in France). They are rarely installed in newer gliders, and sometimes deleted from older ones. But they did save some lives in the past.
Our towplane (CalAir) was a cropduster in its previous life. It still
has the anti-wire features: wire cutter up the canopy plus a wire from
the top of the cockpit to the top of the rudder (to avoid having a wire
saw off the rudder). The airport owner spent a lot of time dusting
crops and has quite a few wire encounter stories. I heard of two glider-wire
encounters in the past few years here in the SE US: one in Chilhowee in 2011
and one this past fall at Blue Ridge. Both were cases of hitting power lines
in the air. One resulted in no injuries and a repairable glider, and the other
almost killed the pilot and destroyed the plane. Both were fortunate that
the wire broke without hitting the pilot (as I understand it): the Blue Ridge
pilot was injured by the nose-down impact.

Matt

--
Dan, 5J

As mentioned they are no longer mandatory in The Netherlands. They were
introduced in the 1960s I believe after a string of accidents (some fatal).
Since then fields have become a lot bigger, obstacles a lot less and air
traffic a lot busier. We opted to replace all fences around the airport by
ditches, and deleted them from our fleet to improve on look-out. Also,
modern gliders seem less prone to injure pilots compared to the older ones
where the wire would go into the gap of the canopy front (compare K8 line
of fuselage/canopy to discus and you'lle see what I mean).

On Tuesday, December 8, 2015 at 1:00:12 PM UTC+3, Eric Munk wrote:
As mentioned they are no longer mandatory in The Netherlands. They were
introduced in the 1960s I believe after a string of accidents (some fatal).
Since then fields have become a lot bigger, obstacles a lot less and air
traffic a lot busier. We opted to replace all fences around the airport by
ditches, and deleted them from our fleet to improve on look-out. Also,
modern gliders seem less prone to injure pilots compared to the older ones
where the wire would go into the gap of the canopy front (compare K8 line
of fuselage/canopy to discus and you'lle see what I mean).

From the New Zealand point of view, several things have changed:

- at the dawn of electric fencing, it was common to distribute it via a single high tensile wire quickly added to an existing fence using risers. These could often be quite high so that vehicles could pass under the electric wire at gates, and also so that risers were only needed every 5 or 10 posts.. As it was a single wire and the risers perhaps only 2x1s it was not easy to see.

- Since at least the early 70s new electric wires have been added as part of the main fence using staples over plastic insulators, and gates are traversed by routing the electric wire through a buried plastic (alkathene) pipe..

- at first, temporary fences for break-feeding (subdividing a paddock) used solid wire. Since, again, the early 70s, this has been universally replaced by stranded plastic (usually orange) with very thin aluminium filaments to carry the current. Besides being many times lighter to carry and many times easier to roll up and unroll somewhere else, it will also break before doing much damage. Many was the time, as a lad, that I rode a motorcycle through such a fence by accident.

From the New Zealand point of view, several things have changed:

- at the dawn of electric fencing, it was common to distribute it via a single high tensile wire quickly added to an existing fence using risers. These could often be quite high so that vehicles could pass under the electric wire at gates, and also so that risers were only needed every 5 or 10 posts. As it was a single wire and the risers perhaps only 2x1s it was not easy to see.

Many was the time, as a lad, that I rode a motorcycle through such a fence by accident.

Hmmm.... reminds me of white water canoeing in the '70's in eastern PA (Neshaminy creek?) one spring. I had the front of the canoe on a fast (spring thaw) but small stream.
Out of nowhere, I saw grass "floating in midair" across the stream. It had caught there when the stream was higher but now the water had receded some and left the grass on the wire.
I barely had time to lay backwards (paddle on top of me, lengthwise) and shout, "Wire!".
It was a barbed wire fence for cattle and it went across the stream.
A wire guide/cutter would have been nice then.

Can't say I ever had an issue with a landing though, but it's sorta like insurance, "You don't like it until you need it".

In the accident report which I posted, I was told the glider struck the
wire such that the wire was under one wing and above the other. There
was no escaping having the wire penetrate the cockpit.

On 12/8/2015 2:57 AM, Eric Munk wrote:
As mentioned they are no longer mandatory in The Netherlands. They were
introduced in the 1960s I believe after a string of accidents (some fatal).
Since then fields have become a lot bigger, obstacles a lot less and air
traffic a lot busier. We opted to replace all fences around the airport by
ditches, and deleted them from our fleet to improve on look-out. Also,
modern gliders seem less prone to injure pilots compared to the older ones
where the wire would go into the gap of the canopy front (compare K8 line
of fuselage/canopy to discus and you'lle see what I mean).



--
Dan, 5J

Here are some photos from inside (and outside) of my glider which has wire protection bars.

https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0V5aVbMKXgkQp

At first they drove me nuts. I felt like I was in a cage. It bothered my visibility. But after 10 flights or so I do not even notice they are there.. I somehow learned to unconsciously adjust my head as needed to make sure I have cleared any blind spots.

These wire strike accidents are rare but still happen. A glider just ran into wires during a contest this fall at New Castle a couple months ago. Thankfully, the pilot was OK. I'm not sure if the wires hit the canopy or not, but it does make me feel better having at least some, minimal protection on my glider.

I will admit I was very close to removing them at first.

7T

On Tuesday, December 8, 2015 at 2:02:35 PM UTC-5, Sean Fidler wrote:
Here are some photos from inside (and outside) of my glider which has wire protection bars.

https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0V5aVbMKXgkQp

At first they drove me nuts. I felt like I was in a cage. It bothered my visibility. But after 10 flights or so I do not even notice they are there. I somehow learned to unconsciously adjust my head as needed to make sure I have cleared any blind spots.

These wire strike accidents are rare but still happen. A glider just ran into wires during a contest this fall at New Castle a couple months ago. Thankfully, the pilot was OK. I'm not sure if the wires hit the canopy or not, but it does make me feel better having at least some, minimal protection on my glider.

I will admit I was very close to removing them at first.

7T

I believe the issue was, "Hit wires, sudden stoppage too far above ground", the resulting (likely near vertical) impact did a job on the sailplane.
It was part of a thread within a day of the incident.
I would say, "The pilot survived", I WOULDN'T say he was "OK".

Really, really sorry to hear that. There has been very little information about this particular accident other than a wire was involved. What I did hear was "fairy banged up" but will recover. Again, very sorry to hear of the higher severity of the accident than I had imagined. I'm wishing for the best possible recovery. Wires are bad news.

Am Dienstag, 8. Dezember 2015 20:02:35 UTC+1 schrieb Sean Fidler:
Here are some photos from inside (and outside) of my glider which has wire protection bars.

https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0V5aVbMKXgkQp

At first they drove me nuts. I felt like I was in a cage. It bothered my visibility. But after 10 flights or so I do not even notice they are there. I somehow learned to unconsciously adjust my head as needed to make sure I have cleared any blind spots.

These wire strike accidents are rare but still happen. A glider just ran into wires during a contest this fall at New Castle a couple months ago. Thankfully, the pilot was OK. I'm not sure if the wires hit the canopy or not, but it does make me feel better having at least some, minimal protection on my glider.

I will admit I was very close to removing them at first.

7T

What are the ugly antenna mountings on the glare shield for?

Bert
Ventus cM TW

Lol! Well gee thanks!

Those are, of course, the Flarm and ADSB antennas. That was a quick and dirty test installation (wanted the ability to move them and find the best signal) with cheap plastic brackets and industrial Velcro. I was planning to update the entire panel shortly after that. I have simply not had the time or, frankly, the need to change it. It works perfectly fine (2-3 mile range usually, sometimes a bit more) and I like the "rugged ambiance" it creates. Somebody once said to me, "this kinda looks like my Grandpas Russian Stuka bomber cockpit from the war." I kinda liked that! No fancy instruments here. Just a big window and a steel cage! I do hope to pretty it up but don't see a lot of free time ahead. Thanks for the "encouragement!"