The Helicopter Association International (HAI) has released a new, online aviation wire strike safety awareness video. “Surviving the Wires Environment” is posted as a streaming video on the HAI website and can be viewed for free by all.
According to the FAA, wire and obstruction strikes are the top operational cause for fatal rotorcraft accidents. Over the last decade there has been an average of one aviation obstruction strike every five days in the U.S. Nearly 30% of all collisions are fatal and the number nearly doubles when the aircraft is operating in or around instrument meteorological conditions or at night.
“There is a tremendous need in the aviation community for a safety awareness tool such as this video,” said Ed DiCampli, HAI’s executive vice president and corporate secretary.
The video was viewed more than 4,500 times during the first week it was online, and more than 6,892 times from Feb. 22 through March 8, officials report.
“Every pilot – fixed-wing or rotary; experienced or newly licensed – needs to watch this video,” said DiCampli.
He noted the wires environment is becoming more crowded with obstructions every day. “The majority of these new obstructions are not indicated on aviation charts, and they are not required to have markings or warning systems,” DiCampli said. He added that the low-level air space is becoming increasingly more crowded with man-made obstructions. “About 7,000 new aviation hazards, such as radio antennas and communication towers, are being built every year, and the charts cannot keep up with those changes.”
The video identifies the key hazards and issues every pilot needs to know and understand to be safer when operating in low-level flight operations. The story is told through interviews with pilots who have survived obstruction collisions, and features comments from some of the leading experts in aviation collision avoidance. The video explores the intricacies of pilot vision and reviews the key components of a comprehensive utility pilot/ground crew safety training program.
The video was produced in cooperation with Southern California Edison (SCE) and AEGIS Insurance Services, Inc. The producers emphasize the video is not a substitute for a formal wire avoidance training program.
I am very disgusted with the new HAI video saying “be careful pilots you cannot see the wires!”
Just support “ADOPT-A-Wire”
We go to the movies and watch Steve McQueen in the “Great Escape” when he needs a motorcycle…he stretches a wire across the road and we ALL know what comes next…In the movie ” Where Eagles Dare ” when Clint Eastwood and Richard Burton are chased by nazis they get off their side car and stretch a wire …we all know what comes next…
California paid millions of dollars to bury the wires because the Condors could not see them (and Condors die drinking anti-freeze)!
People will pay to have their names on the ball;just as the road program [where people sign a “Hold harmless” clause to satisfy the lawyers” ADOPT-A-WIRE ” will comply with the law and save lives;
We ALL know pilots cannot see wires ;the FAA knows it ;the NTSB knows it =this is why it is MANDATORY to mark wires around airports;
Don’t pay for YET another video .Wires cannot be seen MARK them at no tax payer’s money