Wire Srtike

[jetbox]

Starting to make me feel embarrassed to say I'am Helicopter pilot. Hard to say your a professional when you have people like this out there giving us a bad name.

 

Do we have any facts here or are we just throwing #### at the wall hoping it'll stick????

[Helilog56]

Gee......I wonder if it could be the "missing" 206, HTR, that is owned by....Pinnacle Reef?????????????

[arctic_front]

maybe I'm wrong, but the wire-strike kit on a Jetbox lookes like its attached to bascially 'nothing' on the airframe. the cutter and rest of the fit look substantial, but it is only as strong as what its attached to. It hardly looks like it could cut a clothes-line, let alone a large transmission cable. I hope I'm mistaken tho. I sure wouldn't want to find out the hard way as the power lines are very rarely 6 feet off the ground.

 

A previous post by one of the esteemed members a few months ago, mentioned an incident where he was flying a 47 on bags in very poor viz anong a river: to para-phrase, " the viz got worse and worse, so I decided to slow right down and try to work my way to shore and land. as I began to near zero airspeed, the machine seemed to slow very fast and then go backwards, ect. as if on a bungee. I think you all can imagine the next bit....lol My apologies to the original poster as my version of the storey is probably not accurate, but you get the idea....

 

YIKES!

[cap]

Arctic_Front.......that post you refer to was me and although not completely accurate, it'll do for now.....and apologies not necessary.

 

Wire-cutters or no wire-cutters, if you strike an "energized" 500KV line, then that's just the BEGINNING of your problems and there will be no way at all that you will land anywhere, check anything and then continue on your way. On something smaller, like a 138 line maybe, but 500KV lines are the "big daddy's" of them all and damned tough to chew through. If such a strike did happen, on the Island, then Mica Creek is going to know about it RIGHT NOW!. As Jetbox wisely suggested, it might be best to wait for further confirmed details.

[twinstar_ca]

anyone ever see the video testing bristol did with a 500 shell swung into the wires with no WSPS??? virtually cut the bird in half...

 

i thought the whole idea was to mitigate some of the damage to allow you to get down... anyone who thinks it's there to just cut the wires, regardless of gauge and let you fly away is sadly mistaken, IMHO... :hide:

[twinstar_ca]

i saw those 130 pics too... :shock:

 

the driver got them down but was very lucky to do so!! i'm thinking collective full down, fuel off, change shorts...

[twinstar_ca]

my bad, mags.. that was the vid i was referring to... thought it was done at bristol but i stand corrected..

[treetopflyer]

Hey guys,

 

Found a couple pics of a B2 involved with a wire strike.

 

ttf

[cap]

The static wire is the bad one. It's difficult enough to see at the best of times and at speed....forget it. THAT'S when the wire-cutters would come in handy, but forget the 500KV line.....you're just "whistlin' in the dark" if you think it'll work with them. Besides, even if they would cut them, you and the a/c gotta argue with 500KV and you both loose then. I 've seen the "flash-overs" in high winds when one line will swing over and make contact with another one and you can see that flash from 20 miles away.

 

Okanagan lost a 206 in the FSJ area in the early to mid '70's when it hit a wire.......and it was ugly. The pilot had his young daughter onboard and up front with him, the wire cut through at the bottom of the front windshield divider and proceeded to cut him, her and the a/c in half......and he hit it at speed and the wire won.

[twinstar_ca]

i think if you consider the wire to always be the one who wins, you would be on the right track...

 

and you are so right about the 500kv line, cap... don't ever think you will even come out even on that one!! :shock: