This is something I've been banging on about locally as part of the consultation process for one of these masts which is proposed for a location less than a mile from my strip.
I contacted the MOD's airspace protection unit who had submitted a response to the local council, only to have it confirmed that what they had said in their response was correct and that was they had no concerns about a mast at this location as it did not affect approach a departure patterns at surrounding MOD airfields. I asked if they had sought the views of the CFIs at Cranwell and Barkston Heath and they said no.
Needless to say, both CFIs were a bit brassed off when advised of the fact that their views had not been sought and that the MOD's airspace protection dept, didn't consider their training areas to be at risk from developments such as these.
The fact that I had advised of them of this potential development, means at least they will be aware of it's presence if it is erected but what about the not so local MOD traffic that uses the airspace above my strip for it's low level sorties (day and night) and in particularly that traffic that uses the low level corridor (north/south) that passes through the immediate vicinity of my strip and the proposed mast.
As these masts will be neither lit nor promolgated on military and civil charts, the risk of collision with the mast for not so local and unaware pilots will be something that will remain a risk until they become aware, via word of mouth or a near miss.
Incidentally and for future reference, the mast, if approved will be located on the land next to the private strip marked on the civil charts as "Sempringham Fen" which is NW of Spalding.
No, this is not my strip (which is a mile to the south) but interestingly the strip owner is providing the land for the mast to be erected upon and if any subsequent planning application for wind turbines is approved, the strip will be replaced with six of these monoliths.
and don't forget, that as well as the mast, the seel cables that support it can also make a nice mess of an aircrafts wings!
You have been warned!
Yes,it can and has happened as can be found in this report from the NTSB:
http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?e...25X00663&key=1
and this guy had 21,000 hours!