CASA media release - Friday 5 January 2007
Pilots told: watch out for wires
Aerial agriculture pilots are being warned to be extra vigilant about the risks of striking powerlines while crop spraying.
Over a ten year period Australian aviation recorded 119 wire strike accidents and 98 incidents.
In this time 45 people died as a result of wire strikes, with 33 people suffering serious injuries and 42 minor injuries.
Sixty two per cent of wire strike accidents occur in aerial agriculture operations.
Pilots are being told that pre-flight planning has to extremely thorough to identify wire strike risks, while wire awareness must be maintained at all times during low-level flight.
The warnings are contained in a story in the latest edition of CASA’s flagship publication, Flight Safety Australia magazine.
Phil Hurst, the chief executive officer of the Aerial Agriculture Association of Australia, says nearly three quarters of wire strike accidents and incidents involve aircraft hitting wires that pilots had already identified.
He says another 30 per cent of wire strikes occur when a pilot has failed to identify the wires.
“Planning and risk management are the foundation stones of any successful ag operation,” Mr Hurst writes in Flight Safety Australia.
“Most ag operators use a simple but comprehensive form that they ask clients to fill in before any ag job goes ahead.
“This generally includes a hazard checklist identifying wires as well as environmentally sensitive areas, waterways, school bus routes and times, dwellings and a range of other potential threats to the operation.
“But even with good planning an ag pilot does not accept a map as accurate.
“Every operation should have an aerial survey flown at a safe height before descending on the initial run to check for anything that has been missed.”
Read the story “Watch out for wires” at: http://www.casa.gov.au/fsa/2006/dec/38-39.pdf
Media contact:
Peter Gibson
mobile 0419 296 446
Ref: MR0702