Chinook Power Line Strike Wales
I think secondary to the crew getting out safely is the issue of the chap at 1min 26secs being crated!
Per Ardua
We get everywhere!
Per Ardua
We get everywhere!
Originally Posted by [email protected]
Evalu8ter - I take your point but even if the mass of the Chinook or the rotors snap the wires, what about the damage done to the airframe, rotors or crew? Seems a very optimistic attitude to say 'let them break wires'.
CG
I vaguely recall something along these lines being featured on Tomorrow's World back in the day. Was there a civil test too?
Originally Posted by [email protected]
Evalu8ter - I take your point but even if the mass of the Chinook or the rotors snap the wires, what about the damage done to the airframe, rotors or crew? Seems a very optimistic attitude to say 'let them break wires'.
A frightening, nee shocking, experience for the crew no doubt. Isn't it standard procedure to refer the pilot as Sparky from now on?
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The most frightening case I read about was a Lynx flying over a Norwegian fjord. It caught a cable at about 450 ft above the water level, between the fuselage and the skids. The aircraft nosed over and swung inverted on the cable. It remained swinging there for some time, before falling off. They survived intact!
Having said that, an RAF colleague of mine died during an Australian exchange tour when his Chinook hit high HT cables and went down.
Having said that, an RAF colleague of mine died during an Australian exchange tour when his Chinook hit high HT cables and went down.
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So what happened to the principle I was taught at Tern Hill (Sioux and Whirlwind 10) about 50 years ago, when near cables ALWAYS fly over the pylon .
Neither had wire cutters.
Neither had wire cutters.
You have to see the wires or the poles first. In my case the erectors had thoughtfully thought about the landscape and positioned the poles amid trees and the wires strung across open country.
You were lucky in a Sioux. Sycamores didn't have enough power to get over a pole.
You were lucky in a Sioux. Sycamores didn't have enough power to get over a pole.
From the eye witness account it seems that the chinook was already making an emergency landing before hitting the wires so it is seems to me understandable that such an unplanned event would increase the likelihood of hitting wires.
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https://www.researchgate.net/publica...ht_and_Landing
The advantage I see would be it would not rely on the cables being powered, simply present, and it would also detect masts etc.
PBA this shows it in a helicopter environment
https://www.researchgate.net/publica...ht_and_Landing
The advantage I see would be it would not rely on the cables being powered, simply present, and it would also detect masts etc.
https://www.researchgate.net/publica...ht_and_Landing
The advantage I see would be it would not rely on the cables being powered, simply present, and it would also detect masts etc.
There's a lot of room for technology in all of this, but two things are key - how do you present it to the crew and how do you prevent it from going off continuously with false alarms or otherwise.
Both of those are turbo challenging and I'd be the last to say I know what the answer is. Active detection has advantages over database systems for sure, especially in operational flying, but false alarm rate will get you killed through alert fatigue just as well as not having the system. I do know that we've been preaching "look out the window, clear your flight path and fly defensively" since Pontius was a pilot, and people still clatter into wires though!
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I chatted to those doing the install and testing, they if memory serves me correctly we’re having problems setting it up due to the frequencies the helicopter naturally put out, I think rotors were mentioned. The other thing was they only detected live cables so could lull you into a false sense of security.
Unfortunately it didn’t actually detect the very big HT cables running East-West in the local low flying area and I’m fairly sure they were live. It gave me no sense of security at all!
Shy, was that the little circular display by the pilot's right knee, with green lights indicating the quadrant the wires were in? Seem to recall that being trialled, and it not being very trust-inspiring at all.
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