PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - US Army MH-47 has wire strike on a TV Tower
Old 2nd June 2006 | 10:59
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toolguy
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Joined: Aug 2004
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From: northeast usa
wire strike

bladepitch

Here in the states they are painting the wires to blend in with terrain so people don't have to see the 'ugliness', and even if you have EGPWS there is no guarantee the powerlines will be in the database. I test flew a piece of kit from Safe Flight Instrument last yearthat is a an energized powerline detector. It acts like a radio receiver that picks up the frequency of the line (60 hz in the states) and acts like a geiger counter, the closer you get the louder and more annoying it clicks at you. It weighs a couple of pounds and works well enough to alert you to when you get close to energized wires to take evasive action. The down side is that if the wire is not energized, it will not work, and it does not detect obstacles like guide wires, but it costs about $15k us and is simple to install. Here is a link to their website:

<http://www.safeflight.com/>
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