The pilot reported that during the initial climb, he leveled off at about 65′ above the ground and made a right turn to follow a river near Long Island, N.C. After maneuvering down the river for about one minute, the Beech F35 hit uncharted and unmarked power lines that spanned across the entire length of the river.
The impact from the power lines cracked the windscreen and damaged the vertical stabilizer, but aircraft control was not affected and he was able to continue to the destination airport about three nautical miles away.
The pilot said he never saw the power lines, but he did observe larger charted power lines about one mile ahead.
Probable cause: The pilot’s decision to maneuver at low altitude, which resulted in a collision with power lines and substantial damage to the vertical stabilizer.
NTSB Identification: GAA16CA173
This March 2016 accident report is provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn from the misfortunes of others.
Suppose that this had been a seaplane. Would the authorities be looking at this very differently?
If these are navigable waters, not prohibited for seaplane operations, that power line would have to be marked in some fashion.
I find it very interesting that no airport was identified in the NTSB report or in the article. Makes it very difficult to look at this on a sectional.
Wilbur,
Use the accident number in the NTSB db to look up the info you asked about. The aircraft departed from NC26, and the destination was Lake Norman Airport, 14A.
Lately I have been looking in the data base, but this time I didn’t. Further, “Long Island” and my brain immediately went NY and ignored NC. Glad I wasn’t flying yesterday.
So my looking at the charts of Long Island NY just wasn’t telling me anything useful (Duh!!).
But still, the NTSB should have listed the departure airport or the destination airport in their reporting.
According to the very high time, impressively credentialed pilot in his NTSB Form 6120.1, Pilot/Operator Report of Accident, he did not know of any powerlines across his intended route that existed prior to charted lines located in the vicinity of the lines he struck. Despite being unfamiliar with low level obstructions along his flight path for the short ( 5 mile) flight from his departure airport to his home airport he elected to remain well below pattern altitude after takeoff. Instead of climbing to a safe altitude he leveled off at just 65 feet AGL (an altitude of less than 2 wingspans – just a bit out of ‘ground effect’!) above a river and lake bordered by homes. In his report to the NTSB he cited the lack of warning balls on the low wires he struck, and absence of this particular powerline from the Sectional chart as the ’cause’ for his very low level accident that occurred over 900′ below TPA for his departure airport.
I believe that the NTSB correctly cited the pilot’s poor planning, lack of situational awareness, and poor decision making as the ‘probable cause’ for this accident.
At the scale of a Sectional chart, 1″ = 7 nm. Charting every minor low level powerline in the immediate vicinity of a charted powerline of would create serious clutter. When we see one charted powerline, it’s a hint that we must be alert for others in the vicinity. Do we see houses and rural develeopment? We must expect powerlines — charted or not.
As low as the power lines were in the vicinity of the incident, the warning balls would have been for mast water vessels and not aircraft. Looking at Long Island, NC via Google Earth, he most likely would not be in compliance with Part 91.119 while trying to fly in Class G airspace. The area would be stretching the rural definition with numerous houses/structures and most likely boats would have been on the river.
Also, Google Earth shows the power line clearing for that secondary low line VERY clearly. Had the pilot even stayed at 500′ above the water he would likely have noticed cleared areas on both shores, plus across an island mid lake… He and his passengers were very lucky to survive the encounter which broke his wind screen and damaged comtrol surfaces. According to information in the report and docket shards of plexiglass from the cable strike to the windscreen cut his face. He required several stitches soon after he landed.