Pilots praise move to mark power cables

Press, 22 July 1986, Page 2

Pilots praise move to mark power cables

PA Wellington Pilots who regularly fly in the area of last October’s Air Albatross crash have welcomed moves to mark the Tory Channel power cables more clearly. However, they say a much better solution would be to lay an underwater cable to carry power from the mainland to about 30 subscribers on Arapawa Island served by the overhead wires.

A report on the Air Albatross crash said the probable cause of the accident was the pilot’s decision to fly below the minimum safe height in Tory Channel while not being sufficiently aware of the presence of the cables.

The pilot, Roger Phipps, and seven of his eight passengers died after the plane hit the wires and plunged into the sea on October 4 last year. Pilots who regularly fly in the Marlborough Sounds said the recommendation that the Tory Channel cables should be marked with large orange spheres was a big contribution to aviation safety in the area.

Gordon Low, chief pilot

for the Picton-based Floatair, said that short of laying the cables underwater, marking them with orange spheres was the best possible solution. “Of course, the ultimate solution would be to put them underwater. But marking them with the orange bollards is the best news I’ve heard for a long time.

“I fly in that area a lot, and those wires are virtually impossible to see, so if you don’t know they’re there they can be a real hazard. “At least with the orange bollards, you can see them if you’re flying straight for them.”

Mr Low said that while most local pilots were well aware of the the wires, the danger was that pilots from outside the area could strike them.

“The real danger is the Sunday private pilot coming down from a place like Auckland. “There was a case recently where someone filed a flight plan for a low-level scenic flight in the Sounds.

“When they were asked if they knew about the wires they said: ‘What wires?’.”