To all
I have spent three years patroling wires, mainly 11Kv (single wooden pole) and I have a healthy respect for them.
Occasionaly these wires ran underneath major grid wires and nessesitated the need to fly (hover taxi) under them, it was not always possible to cross near the pylons, which would have given you somthing to focus on however if you draw an imaginary line on the ground joining up both pylons that support the section that you intend to pass under I found that gave better situational awareness than trying to judge the distance to the wire itself.
My heart sinks evertime I hear that some poor sod has become wrapped up in wires. Whilst most of these can be easily avoided by good airmanship there are those that can catch out the very best of us, and in this age of information technology it is not beyond imagination that a system can be devised to protect the unwary. I have had some thought on the matter and would like to here the response on the following from all cancearned.
Most if not all poles (wooden to pylon) have an identity number and if the GPS position and height AMSL is known then a database could be compiled and software writen for integration with existing GPS to warn the pilot when in the vacinity and height of known wires. It would also be possible to display the info similar to TCAS as your track, velocity and height are known (GPS), even resolution advisories given to facilitate timely avoidance.
I apreciate the fact that only known wires would trigger a alarm but here in the UK we don't have many logging wires strung across valley's,
well none that Ive seen!!!!.
Maybe a system combining the RADAR, EMF sensing and GPS datadased detection would provide a second line of defense that maybe saves lives.