Mooney hitting power lines in TN

[daytonabch04]

Saw this in another forum.  I would say this pilot was lucky!  Hitting steel power lines on short final can only end one of two ways.  No injuries, just maybe a bruised ego. 

 

https://www.heraldchronicle.com/news/local/pilot-avoids-crash-landing-after-colliding-with-power-lines/article_1903c806-66d5-11eb-991d-6b6311c10ac5.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=email&utm_campaign=user-share

 

[hammdo]

Wow... very lucky. I wonder what was there first, airport or power lines. Bad place for power lines - on final - I’d bet it’s noted but, dark makes it hard to see them - maybe add some kind of marker lights to note their position...

Metal strains on the prop? Betting that constitutes as a pro strike...

-Don

[MooneyMitch]

My first thought................the pilot was below the glideslope.  What is it we say..................."red, you're dead".  Most fortunate outcome.

[David Lloyd]

5000' Runway, 2 light PAPI both ends, 3.5 degree glide path.  Trees are mentioned as obstructions a couple thousand feet away but no mention of the power lines north of the airport.  How 'bout the dime sized burn holes in the fuselage!

[47U]

50 minutes ago, David Lloyd said:

Trees are mentioned as obstructions a couple thousand feet away but no mention of the power lines north of the airport.

Departure obstacles for RW18 mention a tower, 726’ from DER, 31’ high.  Could that be a power pole?  Only 30’ AGL at 700’ from the RW36 threshold is pretty low.  Really glad the outcome wasn’t any worse than it was.

Would the proximity of the roads parallel with the runway and crossing on short final (presumably with vehicle lights) add to site picture?  Or would it be a distraction/disorientation... 

[RobertGary1]

I used to fly out of an airport with power lines on a levy about 500 feet off the end of the runway. The power company said if they moved the lines or added orange balls it would signal they are aware of the airport and they'd be exposed to liability. It was a charted airport. There was also a massive oak tree on the numbers so we had to angle in. A fun grass strip.

 

-Robert

[N201MKTurbo]

I used to work on Joe Henderson’s crop dusters. Mostly Air Tractor 500s.

I went out to the airport one day and there was a giant pile of wire next to the hangar. Joe said he snagged it while spraying. He said he didn’t even know he snagged it. He caused a power outage by both breaking the wire but also by dragging it across other power lines and blowing the circuit breakers. There was about 1/2 mile of wire we was dragging around.

https://planecrashmap.com/plane/az/N15466/

Edited February 4, 2021 by N201MKTurbo

[neilpilot]

Maybe that's what happens when choosing a field with cheaper gas?  

[GeeBee]

2 hours ago, David Lloyd said:

5000' Runway, 2 light PAPI both ends, 3.5 degree glide path.  Trees are mentioned as obstructions a couple thousand feet away but no mention of the power lines north of the airport.  How 'bout the dime sized burn holes in the fuselage!

Abnormally high glide path. That is a clue that the power lines are a problem.

 

 

[aviatoreb]

Its amazing he is alive.  I guess he must have bounced off the wires somehow.  Dime size burn holes in the fuselage?  Burn holes in the right (wrong) place I guess that could ignite the fuel in a dramatic explosion?  Or a more pronounced collision with the wires, stop cold and nose down crash right there.  Good skill he maintained control given the collision he had, but really dumb grateful luck he had a survivable collision.

[steingar]

I always try and come in a bit higher at night.  Too easy to hit what you can't see.

 

[RobertGary1]

1 hour ago, steingar said:

I always try and come in a bit higher at night.  Too easy to hit what you can't see.

 

I like that Garmin offers visual approaches. You get a loc and glide slope to most any runway at night.

-Robert

[spistora]

3 hours ago, N201MKTurbo said:

I used to work on Joe Henderson’s crop dusters. Mostly Air Tractor 800s.

I went out to the airport one day and there was a giant pile of wire next to the hangar. Joe said he snagged it while spraying. He said he didn’t even know he snagged it. He caused a power outage by both breaking the wire but also by dragging it across other power lines and blowing the circuit breakers. There was about 1/2 mile of wire we was dragging around.

Did he catch it with the gear or verticle stab? I've had them cross in front of me while I was driving down two lane highways and they are passing under the power lines.

[LANCECASPER]

19 minutes ago, RobertGary1 said:

I like that Garmin offers visual approaches. You get a loc and glide slope to most any runway at night.

-Robert

I've wondered if that's effective in situations like this at night. Garmin says they follow a 3 degree glideslope from the threshold. That may have not helped in this case.

[WilliamR]

Two funny stories about hitting power lines.  Funny because no one was hurt.

First, two friends buzzed one of the pilots' house with a Stein Skybolt.  Wife called the pilot after landing complaining the power went off in the neighborhood right after the last low pass.  Pilots inspected the prop and found a 1" wide scape mark down the chord of one or both blades.  Lucky it was a clean cut.

Second, two charter pilots pick up an Aztec from the maint. shop at my home airport, 48X in SW FL.  For some reason they chose to do a low pass perpendicular to the runway.  Left prop caught the single wire power line that followed the road parallel to the runway.  Line sprung up, wrapped around the left wing inboard of the engine, cut the leading edge of the wing and jammed the flap up.  Line fortunately unwound and smacked a row of hangars.  Pilots instead of going back to home drome, landed at Arcadia, FL.  So excited they cheated death the pilots were kind of loud having lunch at the local Denny's talking about the experience and how they were going to explain this to their boss.  The local DA and Sherriff were in the booth behind the pilots.  Hearing the pilots talk about a low pass in rural FL, the Sheriff detained the pilots on the suspicion of running drugs.  Not an unreasonable suspicion in that area at the time. After spending the afternoon with the Arcadia police, they had to get back to SRQ a fess up to their boss.  

All three pilots lucky as hell to be alive.  Power lines are damn near invisible from a plane.  At night I too stay a little high on the glide slope when no guidance is provided.

William

[Culver LFA]

4 hours ago, RobertGary1 said:

I used to fly out of an airport with power lines on a levy about 500 feet off the end of the runway. The power company said if they moved the lines or added orange balls it would signal they are aware of the airport and they'd be exposed to liability. It was a charted airport. There was also a massive oak tree on the numbers so we had to angle in. A fun grass strip.

 

-Robert

We have power lines across the street on the south side of our runway. When the power company replaced the orange ball that had faded they put the new ball on the lower wire #2 and removed the old ball from the upper wire.  This is probably worse than no line ball at all

[N201MKTurbo]

18 minutes ago, spistora said:

Did he catch it with the gear or verticle stab? I've had them cross in front of me while I was driving down two lane highways and they are passing under the power lines.

I believe he caught it with the tail wheel, which seems hard to do. Joe told me once that gets a nose bleed if he flies higher than 100 ft. He sprayed at 120 KTS, way faster than most, at night BTW.

[BDPetersen]

When I was but a 12 year old lad, still riding in the back seat of my dad’s Stinson (now mine) we were on our way back to Iowa after a convention in NYC. Making a fuel stop in PA, landing into the sun on a grassy green sod runway, there was a lurch and a whirring sound just before the flare and landing. Rolled to a stop to find a green cable draped across the gear. The poles for the power line were hidden by trees on either side of the runway end. Turns out this was about the 7th time it taken down. The kept putting it back up. And, of course, the power to the airport was knocked out, so no fuel.

I still have the wheel pant with a crease in it. No other damage.

[Hank]

1 hour ago, RobertGary1 said:

I like that Garmin offers visual approaches. You get a loc and glide slope to most any runway at night.

-Robert

You realize that those "glideslopes" are advisory, may not provide clearance of terrain or obstacles, and that maintaining such clearances are still up to the pilot?

[RobertGary1]

Just now, Hank said:

You realize that those "glideslopes" are advisory, may not provide clearance of terrain or obstacles, and that maintaining such clearances are still up to the pilot?

*may* is the case. Although when they can't they revert to non-precision (since Garmin computes this using the terrain and obstacle database).

[carusoam]

Do we know the pilot?

I was unable to get the tail number from the pic...

Inviting @irishpilot to stop by this thread...
 

Advising @mike_elliott of the M20K that made contact with power lines... on final... Plane continued on to the runway...

All safe...

Best regards,

-a-

[GeeBee]

1 hour ago, Hank said:

You realize that those "glideslopes" are advisory, may not provide clearance of terrain or obstacles, and that maintaining such clearances are still up to the pilot?

The Garmin generated glide path would put you low on this runway.

 

[Hank]

19 minutes ago, GeeBee said:

The Garmin generated glide path would put you low on this runway.

 

Exactly my point!

Instrument approaches guarantee clearance, psuedo-glideslopes do not.

[GeeBee]

Yep, when I ran 135 operations, I had an operational rule that unless you had three take-offs and landings in the last 30 days at a given field and you were landing at night, if it had an instrument approach, you had to fly the approach. I also had a list of "special airports" where you always had to fly the approach at night. Too many things can go bump in the night. It is an operational restriction I place on myself now.

 

 

[Nukemzzz]

14 hours ago, BDPetersen said:

When I was but a 12 year old lad, still riding in the back seat of my dad’s Stinson (now mine) we were on our way back to Iowa after a convention in NYC. Making a fuel stop in PA, landing into the sun on a grassy green sod runway, there was a lurch and a whirring sound just before the flare and landing. Rolled to a stop to find a green cable draped across the gear. The poles for the power line were hidden by trees on either side of the runway end. Turns out this was about the 7th time it taken down. The kept putting it back up. And, of course, the power to the airport was knocked out, so no fuel.

I still have the wheel pant with a crease in it. No other damage.

You make a good point here.  The pilot from the original post was going to this airport for the cheap gas.  The reporting never clarifies if he was able to get his gas after the incident.  lol