PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - EMS Very Slow approach - why?
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Old 11th Jan 2013, 17:28
  #40 (permalink)  
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OK, lets pretend we are only dealing with telephone wires since anything bigger is likely to be less hidden and possibly (in a civilised country ) be marked on a map. There is no real excuse for hitting HT cables (but it clearly still gets done) and those are not the type of wires to be hidden in a treeline on approach to an LS.

The average height of a telephone wire in UK (at least) is about 20 feet so in order to get it wrapped around your rotor head you will have to be very low indeed (even I don't come in that low!).

I do know that copper wire is strong but the only time I know it has been a problem is when a Lynx collected about 2 KM of the stuff from a TOW missile around the MRH after flying along a valley where there had been a firing exercise. That did not bring down the helicopter and is a massive amount more than the few feet of it you are likely to collect from between telephone poles.

I can understand the imposed limitation of flying a class 1 approach from the standpoint of fare-paying passengers and air transport work - it is the legislation after all. But, if you are not employed in that sphere, it is surely better to be flexible in the style of approach - coming in steep still does not guarantee that you will see a small wire.
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