Crop duster accident Condobolin

[pilotdave69]

Listening to radio scanner this morning heard that a crop,duster hit power lines near Condobolin and blacked out a large area .

 

Pilot is ok , believe plane is a mess .

 

http://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/investigation_reports/2013/aair/ao-2013-033.aspx

 

Aircraft type similar to this -:

 

http://www.airplane-pictures.net/photo/202738/n4012g-private-ayres-s2r-t34-turbo-thrush/

 

Dave

 

 

[David Isaac]

It is amazing how strong those suckers are ...

 

 

[Phil Perry]

It is amazing how strong those suckers are ...

( "Suckers" David,. . . have you been to the United States of Amiracle,. . . .? No matter. . . . . I tend to use some rather strange phrases as well, so no offence intended. . . !!! )

 

Yep. . . . most AG aircraft are built like a flying JCB. . . . . but regrettably, . . . . .don't react too well to collisions with substantial power cables. . . . . . . . I don't remember what the countryfied average voltage carried by overhead / highway power lines in Austrailian was,. . . over here in UK, it's usually 11Kv. . . . . . but that's normally WELL enough to cause some sort of fire,. . . . . so I'm pleased that the pilot survived and wasn't carbonised. . . .

 

An old cropduster friend of mine in OZ ( Dave Squirrell ) once told me in the pub. . . [ we did spend too much time in there really. . . ] that there were only TWO TYPES of AG pilot, the ones who have already flown into nearly invisible power cables,. . . . and thosse who were going to. . . . . { Broadly similar to marrying ladies really. . . . . ? }

 

Phil

 

 

[David Isaac]

Yep Phil, we have a range of HV in Australia ... one of the nastiest HV wires is found in the more remote rural areas of NSW and SA in particular called a SWER line (Single Wire Earth Return) it is almost impossible to see and serves most of the rural areas. In other rural areas the most common in the two wire systems was 11KV but due to increased loads many of the 11 KV systems were upgraded to 22KV. Then we have 66KV and the bigger buggas are 132KV, but they are pretty obvious, they are supported by larger pylon systems. Wire strikes can sure start nasty fires and not just in the aircarft wreckage either and that is a real problem in Oz.

 

What happened to the wire cutters that used to be fitted to AG aircraft, don't seem to see them anymore. They certainly seemed to work effectively. Is the weight penalty of such cutters the main reason we don't see them anymore?

 

 

[facthunter]

You need bigger VOLT cutters. Nev

 

 

[Phil Perry]

HE HE HE HE. . . . .

 

OI,. Nev, David was trying to be serious and informative there ! ! ! !

 

I dunno David, I flew a Pawnee and a Cessna Agwagon on ag work for a short while in Indonesia, and they did have wire cutters fitted,. . . mind you, if they worked, then you had probably already lost your prop, so were going down anyway. . . .. . . . . Those National Grid wires are not really to be messed about with, they are stranded to around three inches ( 76 mil ? ) in diameter, and will physically stop you in your tracks in any kind of light aircraft from what I've seen. . . .and they carry 132Kv here in the UK as well. . . have you seen those pics from the states with Cessnas hanging off wires by their undercarriage ??. . . I believe that the decelleration was shocking. . . . ( ! )

 

 

[Phil Perry]

Staying for a minute on the subject of cropdusters ( ANd maintaning thread drift of course. . . . ! ) I heard a story about a guy in Sed Effrika,( no,. . .not they guy who shot his missus in the bathroom. . . )

 

Who was spraying some sort of crop ( this wasn't mentioned. . . sorry ) when an older style furniture van suddenly appeared from behind a copse of trees on a dirt road at the end of his run. . . . . he said that it was one of those large, old type vans with windows in the peak above the cab, where the driver slept overnight. He said that he was flying at a height of about six feet, and had already paseed over this little dirt track several times before turning to make another run.

 

He reckoned that he had absolutely no time to react. He said that his aircraft hit the side of the furniture van and came out of the other side, minus wings. He then said that the aircraft came to rest in a level attiude, with the undercarriage still connected, but nothing left behind the cockpit, just a lot of wires hanging out the back and no propeller. He said that he had suffered no injuries, and was glad that the van was not full to the top with oak furniture. . . . .

 

This is one of the many stories that you hear and can't confirm, but the guy WAS actually a croppie, as I actually saw him fly. . . . I was somethat doubtful about the tale, and he went on to tell me he'd escaped from South Africa and moved his family to Brisbane with a few diamonds, hidden up his back passage,. . . as black or half caste people were not allowed to leave the country with any money during the apartheid years. . . . . He also told me that he was addicted to Coca Cola, and couldn't go to bed without several bottles of the stuff on the bedside table. . . . . . . ( YUK. . .can't stand the stuff, but it DOES clean oil stains off the concrete outside the hangar. . . )

 

Tell you what blue,. . . . . you hear all sorts of tales if you mix it with people who fly aeroplanes,. . . . must be the rarified air that gets to them,. . . . ? I dunno. Where's the salt,. . . I need another pinch. . . .

 

 

[nomadpete]

Yep Phil, we have a range of HV in Australia ... one of the nastiest HV wires is found in the more remote rural areas of NSW and SA in particular called a SWER line (Single Wire Earth Return) it is almost impossible to see and serves most of the rural areas. In other rural areas the most common in the two wire systems was 11KV but due to increased loads many of the 11 KV systems were upgraded to 22KV. Then we have 66KV and the bigger buggas are 132KV, but they are pretty obvious, they are supported by larger pylon systems. Wire strikes can sure start nasty fires and not just in the aircarft wreckage either and that is a real problem in Oz.What happened to the wire cutters that used to be fitted to AG aircraft, don't seem to see them anymore. They certainly seemed to work effectively. Is the weight penalty of such cutters the main reason we don't see them anymore?

David,

 

Our long haul transmission lines ( they are really just big nav aids, mounted on the iron giants) are 275 Kv, 330Kv, and we now are installing our first Half a Megavolt transmission lines. that's 500Kv. There also quite a lot of 132Kv stuff. They all look much the same. Really though, the actual operating voltage is hardly relevent as far as safety goes. We have a saying in the industry: "One flash and you're ash".

 

The main thing for pilots to note about the HV transmission lines is the fact that the top pair of wires are much harder to see because they are much thinner than the main conductors. Generally there are six main conductors carrying the power. These top wires are overhead earth wires provided to catch the worst of the lightning strikes.

 

Anyway, the transmission lines are, as you said, supported by large structures which are easily seen, and generally marked on our maps. The SWER arrester cable is the one that worries us most. All aerial cabling is pretty heavy cable - I think anything tough enough to cut it would also be pretty heavy to carry around on your A/C

 

PeterT