Wire Srtike

[downwash]

Cap, having had the all too unhappy experience of a wire cutting my lateral cyclic control rod in a Hiller 12E, after I had just put in a little left bank, resulting in an uncontrolled roll to fully inverted when we hit, I'm firmly in favor of anything likely to allow me at least a semblance of control. In those coup0le of seconds I was FULLY aware that I had no lateral cyclic control AND that I oughtn't pull collective, thereby accelerating my 'rush' towards terra firma.

 

Mag, I'm not sure of the reality, but wasn't there some understanding back when the kits first came out from Aeronautical Accessories that a 'benefit' of the mounting system was that it would allow the cutters to break away at extremes of force, rather than impose strong sustained forces which could exacerbate negative results of a strike?

[downwash]

A thought about the post that started this thread - apparently there are plenty of 'black ops' going on down in that area, including folks without registrations or such simple little things as Cs of A. Sounds like the kind of thing that would be easy to experience with a load of grass in the moonlight. I hope the authorities find a way to curtail these activities soon. The incidents occurring as a direct result are bringing some very poor PR to the industry. Lord knows we're capable of doing ourselves enough disservice - we don't need THAT kind of help!

[cap]

After doing powerline patrol for a fair bit of time and also hyro tower construction, I live by two rules never broken......transmission lines are always crossed at the towers and transmission line is allowed to "sag" to within 60' of the ground legally. Having said that much, I lost a very good friend eons ago who had bags of experience working around powerlines and it cost him his life and nobody will ever understand why....except maybe inattention. He landed to drop crews off at the base of a tower with a 204......and where he had dropped them off many, many times before in the preceding days. Once empty, he proceded to "vertical" right up into the transmission lines above him and "that was all she wrote". Bottom line: moving, working and flying around transmission lines is no place to be if you are still "burning" over the "tiff" with the wife that morning or a "read-out' given by a superior that AM....whether those lines are "energized" or NOT. I learned that WELL doing tower landings to drop the line crew off on the tops of the of towers and WHY they are extremely "picky" who they attempt that endeavour with.

[Cole]

With year one electronics I know that you need to be touching 2 different power lines and or one and the ground to be shocked so that isnt really an issue. How do you presume birds can sit on them, simple rule: electricity will always follow the shortest distance - to + (might be the other way around, its been a while since I was in electronics) and as long as you arent it you wont get shocked, now belive me when I say this, I built a strobe light and when something was out silly me decided i could just push it over, not realising it was still not only plugged in, but in the on position :shock: ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZAP! bit of a blond moment. long story short, if those wire cutters are made of conductive material, for a split second youre the quickest route from - to +. the wires in this case were live, as evidence by the small grass fire that was caused, also seems to me as odd that noone knows what this heli was doing so low besides being up to no good :down:

 

Cheers, Cole

[Skidz]

Cole's comment about strobes leads me to ask this question: Am I the only lowtimer to have been asked to "jiggle" the strobe bulb on an A/C (tail strobe on a 206L in my case) while the AME "jiggled" the switch to try and make it work ? Oh ! :shock: What a feeling !!! Much worse than p*ssing on a cattlefence I tell ya !

[treetopflyer]

http://www.mytelus.com/news/article.do?pag...ticleID=1882915

 

Copter clips Maple Ridge power lines, then takes off

 

MAPLE RIDGE (BC Newspaper Group) — A helicopter flew into high-voltage power lines near Pitt Polder on Wednesday.

 

But by time police arrived, it was gone. They have since located it, but are still searching for the pilot.

 

A nearby resident called local RCMP at about 3:55 p.m. Wednesday about a helicopter that went down on Middleton Road, Cst. Kelly Katalinic said.

 

But when RCMP arrived on the scene, the chopper was gone.

 

"The helicopter has been located outside of the Lower Mainland, so we're still looking into that," said Cst. Chuck Glover of the Pitt Meadows Community Policing Team.

 

However, the location of the pilot remains a mystery to police.

 

The helicopter touched down on Middleton Road after it struck high-voltage power lines in the area just before 4 p.m. The lines carry 5,000 volts of electricity and run attached to large towers in three pairs running parallel to each other. Glover said the towers would have been visible to the pilot.

 

"The pilot's lucky to be alive."

 

It was a clear day, and more than an hour before sunset. The area cuts behind a bit of a hill. Glover said police are investigating why the pilot was in that area, where he took off from, and why he did not see the power lines.

 

"A myriad of ideas come up" as to what the situation is, Glover said. "These are questions we'd really like to ask him."

 

He has no idea why the pilot would have been flying that low.

 

The Transportation Safety Board and BC Hydro are also looking into the incident.

 

When the lines were severed, they sparked a mild fire near the Pitt Polder. Glover said he doesn't believe any residents had their power knocked out as a result.

 

Police are looking for assistance in their investigation and any help they can find to locate the pilot. Anyone with more information is asked to call Ridge Meadows RCMP at 604-463-6251 or Cst. Glover at 604-467 -7676, ext. 6512.

[twinstar_ca]

this is all starting to get just a little too bizarre out there!!! :shock:

 

are any of you folks starting to take a few more security options out there?? to me, it's sounding like more and more of these "incidents" are related to each other... next they'll be going after birds with the driver still on board... you guys fly safe out there... :hide:

[Skidz]

I wonder if Viper make alarms for a/c...

[Cole]

looks like another one for the mysterious accidents files well if you were to make one full dope on a rope load you could probably make about enough to pay for the helicopter if you got a 206 so thats what 1100lb you can haul under her and so yep easyally pay for the bird, man were all in the wrong lines of work, screw slingin logs and shuttleing turists all day, all we have to do is boot over the border and back and there we are

 

 

Things looking dismal now but.... Cole

[windslapper]

Coles comments about the power wires are quite correct. As long as you are touching one wire and are not contacting the ground or the tower or one of the other wires you are perfectly safe. the energy is trying to take the most direct path back to where it was generated and that would be the earth. If you have noticed, all the major power lines have three cables or three sets of cables as power is gererated in three phases (120 x 3 =360 degrees)

This off topic but an interesting link if you are curious

 

http://science.howstuffworks.com/power2.htm

 

all said though it is probably best to just not hit them!

As pointed out though, some deliveries appear to require 'nap of the earth' flying