Sunday, June 21, 2015

Pilot's death inspires wire safety campaign

Whanganui helicopter pilot Dean Lithgow has launched a national Let's Get 'Em Down advertising campaign to remove dangerous wires on farms.



Whanganui helicopter pilot and farmer Dean Lithgow thought about giving up flying after the death of fellow pilot and friend Peter Robb, who was killed when his helicopter struck a wire late last year.

"He was a colleague, he was a mate, he was a well-respected and very experienced helicopter pilot," Lithgow said.

With a young family of his own, Lithgow was seriously shaken by his friend's loss and during a long walk around his farm on the evening of the accident he came up with a plan to do something constructive to draw attention to the high risk of pilots hitting unseen wires on farmland.

He has since launched a national Let's Get 'Em Down advertising campaign which has the backing of two well-known sporting stars and fellow helicopter pilots, All Black captain Richie McCaw and motor racing champion Greg Murphy.

Lithgow said on behalf of the aviation industry, he wanted to personally thank the pair for their support of the campaign.

Wire strikes posed a huge risk for all pilots, he said, not just helicopter or agricultural pilots. Pilots of private aircraft, balloons, gliders and microlights were all at risk of wire strikes when they were forced to fly somewhere they did not want to be in bad weather. 

According to aviation industry statistics, 160 agricultural pilots had died on New Zealand farms to date, 27 of which were caused by wire strikes. In the two years before Peter Robb's accident, there were 15 wire strikes reported to the authorities, not all of them fatalities.

Lithgow is well aware of the risks, having had several close calls himself, including hitting an electric fence wire "I didn't know was there".

For helicopter pilots, he said safety was a huge issue because most of their agricultural work was done at low levels, such as crop or weed spraying.

"As ag pilots that's what we do, from North Cape to the Bluff," he said. "And as you know, there are not many of us to start with."

Lithgow said the aim of the campaign was for farmers and their pilots throughout the country to work together over the next 12 months to remove or lower all wires to conventional fence height.

He said not much could be done to shift power lines. Pilots were generally well aware of them and they were usually more obvious because of the visible hardware of towers, telegraph poles and cross-arms supporting them.

The real concern was less obvious wires, such as electric fence wires spanning gullies or disused television aerials, some of which were up to two kilometres long running from hill tops to homes in many remote valleys to improve television reception.

These wires were capable of bringing down any aircraft and especially helicopters working at low levels.

"They may only be five metres above the ground, but if they don't need to be there, they could be dropped to conventional fence height and the problem goes away," he said. "It's not going to happen tomorrow, but I'm sure we can achieve it."

As a dairy, sheep and beef farmer himself, Lithgow said most of his flying was farm-related and he and his colleagues had developed a strong rapport and personal connection with their clients because of the need to work together.

"Collectively, we want to work together with farmers to remove the risk."

Source:  http://www.stuff.co.nz

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