Two planes fly into power lines in Qld
 

From the Adelaide Advertiser:

DF.

Just a standard day in the life of a croppie ;) Perhaps they should fit wire strike kits on all aircraft....

Gazumped again XXX - your losing it mate! :E

Whilst you sound like you know a lot about the day to day life of an Ag pilot I can assure you X wire strikes are not in an Ag pilots standard day,and wire cutters and deflectors are on all Ag aircraft. Perhaps you should try and get a ride in the back seat of one for some education.

;) = sarcasm my friend.

As long as the back seat is not the hopper then I'm in :cool:

PS: when I said fit wire kits to all aircraft I was actually jokingly thinking non-crop dusting aircraft like your average Cessna as there's been a fair number go in due to wires.

Sorry Dr, I've been too busy working on my new acquisition to report on the crash stats.

I am glad to hear that no one hurt, and i hope not too much damaged paint. OZ G10 correct, not a day to day occurance, but certainly one that can roon your whole day if you cop one bad.

The larger size (mass) and higher dispersal speed of modern ag aircraft provide higher energy levels that make cable cutting or breaking more straightforward. Smaller and or slower types do not usually come off well from wire strikes, especially longer spans where stronger cables are used and they act as arrestor cables, literally dragging an aircraft out of the sky. Smaller types are perhaps less likely to hit cables, i.e.the same cables, but consequences are worse. Some pilots are more tempted to fly under much lower wires in smaller aircraft, Even to thread the needle when not operationally neccessary. Larger types usually have heavier duty wire cutters and props as well.

Many ag pilots i knew polished the windscreen always in vertical motion so that wires could not hide in any polishing marks or streaks, especially when flying into sun early morning, or near sunset.

Sounds like all is ok in this instance.:) ...these instances.

HD

Polishing Vertically:
 

Harley D;

You have taught me something. As an Ag pilot (Australia) I never thought of polishing my goggles with a vertical motion but to do so makes sense. I wonder what else I dont know!! Best.

O.P.

P.S. As an aside the Harley Davidson is not my favourite machine, prefer the Norton or AJS but Harleys do punch out a great sound.

Your slipping XXX
Beaten to the punch again.

A croppie told me that a long time ago when I was polishing with Mr Sheen on a windscreen on a Skyfox. Vertical only, never horizontal. Whilst I'd say I haven't come close to an unseen powerline yet, it has certainly helped me spot them on the odd occasion I believe.

XXX

If the power line was unseen, how do you know you never came close to one?

Don't encourage him Capt.

When I started my PPL they taught us to clean the windscreen with a vertical motion. I was told never use a circular or horizontal motions when rubbing the window surface. Remaining dirt will cause arbitary, round scratches, reducing vision and optical clarity when flying into the sun. Vertical patterns are less noticeable than horizontal ones.

"Unseen" is when you don't see it out the windscreen and you see it flash past just under your undercarriage!

never done any ag flying, but fwiw I always cleaned the windscreen the same way I do a car, in circular motions.

Ideally you'd rinse the windscreen first and ensure you've got a clean cloth. That way you won't scratch it. The windscreens at my flying school don't get looked after very well however. Som are scratched up on the inside by kneeboards and headsets etc

Back in the 80's in another life when I was working in TW I knew of a few croppies who 'bought the farm' (lots of cotton) & I thought at the time shame someone hadn't invented a device that detects wires out ahead of an A/C & alerted the driver by way of a distinct audible alarm. Wires carry current which my be detectable so anyone heard of such equip?
SWER wires are everywhere out there, bloody dangerous occupation you guys have, yr a lot braver than I would ever be:-)


Wmk2

Only way to do it.

The winscreen cleaning thread
 

XXX in ag work there are unseen and unknown wires, and other hazards, but worst is unremembered.

Many ag wire strikes are into wires that were briefed or indicated on work maps, but subsequently forgotten, or the immediate recall overwritten by another priority, real or percieved, or even distraction from another sensory input visual, audible or tactile. I hit a wire with my nose gear in a flitcher when topdressing. I knew it was there but had a higher issue ( i thought subconsciously) to deal with at the time due to being overloaded with a bridged load of supershosphate at the time and trying to outclimb rising terrain in a blind valley. All my attention was on clearing the ridgeline and the wire caught the gear just as i crested the hill in a nose high attitude. I didnt see it as it was out of my field of view, and not in my immediate thoughts at that moment. It was unseen and unremembered.

The reference i made to clean windscreen was more applicable when intentionally flying under wires where the relative motion of the wire can be very slow and losing sight of it amongst the confusion of horizontal scratches when fling into a low sun can be annoying.

HD

Learned something new.... Vertical polishing motion only!

Will do it from now on.

But what about vertical scratches hiding towers and guy wires?

Right on with the windscreen cleaning. Use a small clean water sprayer to rinse off the grit - then chamois the screen vertically for the absolute minimum passes needed. Teach it to my ab initio students from the very 1st pre-flight.
Found it's also useful in seeing anything else with horizontal shape, eg cloud bases,
happy days,

It is not the trees etc hiding in the scratches but the reflection of the sun of the horizontal scratches that can destroy forward vision.

Or so I was told by a Cessna Engineer at the Citation factory.