Pilot's miracle escape after tangle in high-voltage power lines

[lc_aerobatics]

Pictured: Pilot's miracle escape after tangle in high-voltage power lines | Mail Online (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1046392/Pictured-Pilots-miracle-escape-tangle-high-voltage-power-lines.html)
and
BBC NEWS | World | Plane hits power lines (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/7568045.stm)

looks like lucky escape.

[green granite]

A couple of hrs ago. interesting rescue problem

Plane stuck in power lines - Yahoo! News UK (http://uk.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20080818/video/vwl-plane-stuck-in-power-lines-d7f4ae7.html)

[F4F]

Well, ain't the first nor the last...
Lucky outcome though :ok:


live 2 fly 2 live

[PH-SCP]

Can these hours, suspended from the ground, be logged?:):)

[worldpilot]

Very lucky individuals. This is what we call "Power Landing" with a happy end.:D
According to a German media source, the 65 year old pilot have decided to quit flying. Well, I'm not sure, if that is a good decision. But then, for sure, they were very lucky. The plane stroke a 300000 volt power line. You could imagine, what could have happen, had it been they took a hit.:E
Anyway, we have a happy end here. However though, the pilot will have to pay a huge bill for this rescue and power cut.:{

I wish them all the best.

WP

[Thomas Doubting]

I suppose so. Could even be fly by wire.

[aviate1138]

First Europa on fly by wire then..........

Two hours inverted with just the wife for company.........


It's that thin top bracing wire that gets them every time........


Glad they made it down. Had they been flying the mono Europa it might have been a different story.

[J.O.]

Can these hours, suspended from the ground, be logged?

Doubtful, seeing as the aircraft was no longer operating under its "own power". Just its own "power lines".

Thankfully they were okay. Not everyone has been so lucky in incidents such as this one.

[Basil]

As aviate1138 says "Two hours inverted with just the wife for company" - telling you what a total prat you are.
Nothing the German CAA throw at you can possibly equal that punishment :{

[Whiskey Papa]

The thin top bracing wire is, strangely enough, the earth wire! But they weren't earthed otherwise there would be a hole in the ground! But they must have been earthed to avoid the 44,000 volts. Confused...you bet.

How heavy is a Europa? What's the breaking strain on an earth wire?

[barit1]

This guy (http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20080604X00787&key=1) at least fell to the sod unaided and uninjured.

[Them thar hills]

The breaking strain of that earth wire is obviously more than the top of the tower, which looks to have crippled and curled right over.
The earth wire appears to have been dragged near, or, into contact with the top phase conductor, so the circuit would (should !) have tripped immediately. The sequence of events after that depends on the type of protection equipment at source.
:ouch:

[aviate1138]

Whiskey Papa asked...
"How heavy is a Europa? What's the breaking strain on an earth wire?"

Aviate adds....

What would have happened if the earthwire/lightning conductor support tower

had not bent, would the cable have snapped and thereby caused two fatalities?

Bit like a flexible fishing rod tip, a 2 pound line and landing a 7 pound fish.

They were v. lucky IMHO

EASA, as a result of this accident is asking for all kit built aircraft to have cable cutters fitted! Well they might! :rolleyes:

[Mariner9]

Neither "luck" nor "a miracle" had anything to do with it :=

Poor flying to get tangled up in the first place.
Simple physics to explain why the cable didn't snap or electrocution result. :*

[Them thar hills]

FWIW, for 175 sq mm steel-cored aluminium conductor, the breaking strain is about 8 tons......
tth

[dont overfil]

Was there some similar system used by the navy early 1900s to recover aircraft before aircraft carriers?
Bet he still was charged a nav fee!
DO.