Helicopter Check Ride Part 5 Wire Strike Avoidance
Aug 10, 2017Helicopter Check Ride Part 5 Wire Strike Avoidance
Chapter 5: Wire Strike Avoidance
Always assume all towers and poles have wires. Wire strike avoidance is a big deal. Helicopters fly into wires, it happens. People get hurt, people are killed, wires are absolutely everywhere. We know this, we see them. It's not just towers, they are across rivers too. I have heard a lot of people say, “Ah, I like to go fly low along a river.” While it is a beautiful view, people string wires across rivers that are very hard to see.
Fly over the towers versus in between the towers. Going over the tower is going to be best because, if I am over the top of it, and I have an equipment failure, I have a choice to go left or right. Always fly over the towers. Wires are EVERYWHERE!
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When doing planned off airport landings, it is best to go out and visit a landing spot. If you can, it is best to go drive their first and encourage your students to do the same thing. Go out to the area, look at it first hand, and find these wires because they can be VERY hard to see.
As an EMS pilot during night flight goggle training, the Check Airmen points out to me “Hey, have you ever noticed those two little tiny wires above the others?”
I looked and I said, “Wow. No, I've never seen those.”
You would think the two smaller wires would be below the bigger, heavier wires. I flew for a lot of years before I ever knew that on a lot of these towers you see these four, six or eight big, heavy wires, sometimes at the very top there's, two tiny little wires running along above the larger wires.
Flying over the top of the towers, visiting landing sites that are off airport prior to landing is probably the best thing to do. We have to protect our students when we are letting them solo. They need to understand that you will not allow them to go off and do off airport landings. At least not without you as the CFI on board!
The number of pilots that hit wires is high, and many of these strikes are fatal.
I keep going back to the EMS thing, but I think that is good because a lot of people like you or other people may be looking to fly EMS later. You learn a lot of good stuff. One of the things they taught us, “You need to be very careful when the ground people tell you there are no wires.” Do not believe it because there is probably going to be wires there that they do not see. They are not trying to kill you, they just do not see them.
Helicopter Check Ride Part 5 Wire Strike Avoidance
People think, because they watch it on television, we go to where we want to land and then we go straight down. Then we go straight up and then we fly away. Well, we do if we have to, sometimes, but we want to come in with some speed and at an angle. It's the same when taking off, if we can.
People on the ground, they're not helicopter pilots. When you talk to them and they say “Oh, you just land here on this spot and you're good,” they may not see a specific danger for us.
I will give you an example. When I was new to the EMS thing. They told us in our basic training to never believe what they tell you. You still get a report from the people on the ground, but do not take it as solid information. I do not want to say do not take it as a truth. Just realize that there is times when they don't understand that wires they think are far enough away can be too close for us. Maybe they just do not see them.
To continue with my example, I was going to land at an accident and the fire department says, “Oh, you're clear. Land in the intersection, all four sides are clear, you're good.” This is at night and it is a little bit of rainy, snowy mix, it is already a kind of a nasty night. I am coming in nice and slow, I am looking around my search light, and what do I find? Wires! Then I look over on the side. What do I find? More wires!
There were wires on all four sides of this landing area, and I still made it in there, but only because I saw the wires. I hovered one or two hundred feet, then did a slow descent to get in there. They flat out said “No wires.” Well, they just thought the wires were far enough away that they were not a problem. They may not know how we really want to land.
That is what really comes into my mind. One of the biggest things that opened my eyes. People will tell you, “You can land there. There's nothing, there's no wires.” Or, “Oh yeah, there's wires, but they're way far away.” Not understanding the situation from the pilot point of view.
Helicopter Check Ride Part 5 Wire Strike Avoidance
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