Unmarked windfarm anemometers - WARNING

[PH-UKU]

WARNING - there are more and more unmarked and unlit anemometer towers going up, particularly in Scotland.

I've spotted 2 in the last month. All are about 200-250 feet high, are coloured brown (really clever that one) with a little anemometer on top. They seem to be sited at potential windfarm sites, but they are
VERY DIFFICULT TO SPOT.

Now, they may well be marked in the AIS NOTAM website, but I find that the most un-user friendly webpage in existence.

Anyone out there spotted any more of these ?

What do low-flying miljets think of these ?

From the centre of Crieff - 056deg Mag/3.0nm
56deg24'22.6"N/3deg46'45.5"W

:uhoh:

[rogcal]

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?ev_id=20050525X00663&key=1

and this guy had 21,000 hours!

[S-Works]

they get paid £80k pa per turbine.......

[tmmorris]

Try asking this on Mil Aircrew forum...

T

whoops. just realised you did!

[PPRuNe Radar]

Under 300' agl and they don't have to be charted. Under 500' agl and they don't require lights. At the moment that's how the 'law' stands in the UK.

Whether it's safe or not is another question of course.

[Sir George Cayley]

..especially when it's a Mod but

The ANO defines the heights in metres.

Above 90m AGL certain objects may be obstacles and require lights subject to an aeronautical study.

Above 150m AGL all objects are obstacles and will be lit.

Charting is the answer. If you flight plan then nothing on the ground should come as a surprise.

Any issues with obstacles outside an aerodromes should be referred to the Director of Airspace Policy at CAA House, Lunnon.

Sir George Cayley

[rogcal]

Irrespective of the fact that some of us may either love or loathe wind farms, it is important that if any of us who read these forum pages, gets wind of a planning application for an anemometer mast in their locality, tell as many people as you can.
Don't just assume that the local RAF station commander knows about the proposed mast, tell him/her and sleep easy at night knowing you might have saved someones skin.
And don't forget the civilian operators either.
PFLs are common around here and are practised by both MOD and civilian training units, with breakoff heights of 50ft being the norm.
Very easy to miss one of these towers when you're workload is high and your vision becomes more focused on a smaller area as you reach decision height!

[PH-UKU]

Thanks all for your considered responses - keep them coming and also noting any locations of these anemometers would be helpful too.

A lot of windfarm developments are on open moorland. We are all quite entitled to fly around at low level so long as we avoid any person, vessel, ve-hikel or structure by at least 500 feet - I would suggest that persons (particularly in bright orange kagouls), vessels and ve-hikels are usually easier to spot than these camouflaged brown skinny masts in the middle of nowhere.

Quite apart from the hazards to our fast pointy brethern, and the apparent absence from NOTAM activity.