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Helicopters and Wires
Anyone else besides me here ever hit a wire in a helicopter? I did it
at night while crop dusting in California. Was a steel cable and all it did was leave "chatter" marks in the paint and tore the end cap. Very close call and we had to replace the blades (which were just about timed out anyway). I have a healthy respect for wires and fly in that environment quite a bit so have some opinions and experience if anyone is interested. Ol Shy & Bashful |
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Sounds like a really expensive idea to rig all of the poles and wires too.
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Jim
I'm not sure if the warnings will work or not. Non-powered lines for example? I question who is flying that low and for what purpose? In ag work we are more wire aware simply as a matter of survival! Certainly there are other aspects of rotor work that put them in the wired up regime. In that case I feel its a matter of the PIC taking the time to become educated in the area of ops, wire avoidance, and keeping a high degree of alertness. Flying helicopters is a double edged sword......fun to fly at low altitude, and closer to disaster at the same time. Today as an example, my load truck had to position near the end of a tall sprinkler and near a set of power lines along the road. I had to make a careful approach parallel to the road between the sprinkler arm/head and the powerlines. I had enough room to make a careful pedal turn over the truck to avoid the lines. Certainly I was paying attention, and certainly I knew it was tight. Its just a simple matter of the kind of work we do on a daily basis. I'm glad I can pass along some of this info to those who are interested. Fly safe and if in doubt...DON'T !!! Rocky Jim Carriere wrote: wrote: Anyone else besides me here ever hit a wire in a helicopter? I did it No, not yet anyway Came close one night to some hi tension lines across a river- the lines were just low enough to not have obstruction lights, and I was just high enough to miss them. at night while crop dusting in California. Was a steel cable and all it did was leave "chatter" marks in the paint and tore the end cap. Very close call and we had to replace the blades (which were just about timed out anyway). I have a healthy respect for wires and fly in that environment quite a bit so have some opinions and experience if anyone is interested. You probably have more time below 200' AGL than anybody on here. What do you think of powerline warning systems? I've heard of one that picks up the RF and then gives a proximity warning. Good, bad? False alarms, not enough warning, or maybe a pretty decent idea? |
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Fisherman wrote:
Sounds like a really expensive idea to rig all of the poles and wires too. No, it picks up the 60Hz. |
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Jim
Giving it some more thought while flying today. There is a very high percentage of wire strikes that occurred when the pilot knew the wires were there and hit them anyway! Not just talking about ag work either. I can't recall where I got the stat but it was while researching wire strikes for an article several years back for Ag Pilot magazine and it was over 60%!!!! Now that is food for thought! Cheers Rocky Jim Carriere wrote: wrote: Jim I'm not sure if the warnings will work or not. Non-powered lines for example? I question who is flying that low and for what purpose? In ag snip Hmm, good point. Guy wires too. If you're flying that low for commercial operations, you should be familiar with the area as you say. For military training, the same applies. Military operations, there may be a few more things to consider. For recreation, flying _that_ low is unnecessary risk. Nothing new with any of this. Well, I asked for some thoughts from an experienced person, you replied, and your thoughts on it are pretty similar to mine. That is, it might work, might not, keep it simple and be careful. Words to live by. Thanks |
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