A topdresser aircraft clipped and brought down power lines in an incident at Pehiri on Monday morning. It happened at about 9.30am.
“There was a wire stike on the 50kV line that serves the Pehiri and Ngatapa areas, and lines were brought down,” said Eastland Network general manager Brent Stewart.
“It involved a topdressing aircraft.”
The Herald understands the pilot was able to land the aircraft safely after the accident.
“Thankfully it appears the pilot was not injured,” Mr. Stewart said.
“Many Gisborne residents would have noticed a flicker in their electricity at around the time the lines were struck and around 250 connections in the immediate area experienced an outage.”
Power was fully restored within an hour “although we will need to do some further repair work to the 50kV lines at a later date”.
Mr. Stewart said Eastland Network had been in contact with the topdressing company about the incident.
The Herald also contacted the company involved but they declined to comment.
The Civil Aviation Authority was advised of the incident by the Rescue Coordination Centre on Monday.
“We have since spoken with the pilot,” said CAA spokesman Mike Richards.
“A safety investigator has been assigned to the case. At this stage we are in the information gathering phase.”
Mr. Richards said it was unlikely any further information would be made available while the investigation was underway.
The mishap comes just over a year after the fatal topdresser crash that claimed the lives of pilot George Peter Anderson, 37, and loader operator Robert Solouota, 49, both from Gisborne.
The men died when a Cresco aircraft struck high tension power lines in the Hangaroa area on Monday, December 12, 2016.
The accident cut power to the district for two-and-a-half days.
Original article can be found here ➤ http://gisborneherald.co.nz
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