 |
37000 Feet | Browse and search NASA's Aviation Safety Reporting System |
|
A C150 pilot; trying to optimize his ground speed by flying low; struck an electrical wire but surprisingly did no damage.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1002309 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201203 |
| Local Time Of Day | 1201-1800 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | ZZZ.Airport |
| State Reference | US |
| Environment | |
| Flight Conditions | VMC |
| Light | Daylight |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | Cessna 150 |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 91 |
| Flight Phase | Cruise |
| Flight Plan | None |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Single Pilot |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Private |
| Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 3.4 Flight Crew Total 332.1 Flight Crew Type 308 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Inflight Event / Encounter Object |
Narrative:
Flying a 95 KT cessna 150; I was experiencing a 10 KT headwind; and decided in a very rural area to fly just above the ground to achieve a better ground speed. I was checking my GPS to verify ground speed when I caught a wire passing over the windscreen at no more than 30 ft in front of me. I had not noticed any electric/telephone poles; and did not have any time to react before I heard a bang. As I had no loss of control or change in flying characteristics; I gained several hundred feet of elevation; and then looked around at the empennage. Seeing no sign of damage; I continued the flight to the destination. Upon parking; I inspected the rudder and could see absolutely no marks of impact. I can only think the wire bounced off the beacon but did not damage it. Flying low to save a few minutes of flight time almost caused a crash. My not continually looking outside the cockpit and being distracted by the GPS was potentially fatal. Low level flight will not be done again.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: A C150 pilot; trying to optimize his ground speed by flying low; struck an electrical wire but surprisingly did no damage.
Narrative: Flying a 95 KT Cessna 150; I was experiencing a 10 KT headwind; and decided in a very rural area to fly just above the ground to achieve a better ground speed. I was checking my GPS to verify ground speed when I caught a wire passing over the windscreen at no more than 30 FT in front of me. I had not noticed any electric/telephone poles; and did not have any time to react before I heard a bang. As I had no loss of control or change in flying characteristics; I gained several hundred feet of elevation; and then looked around at the empennage. Seeing no sign of damage; I continued the flight to the destination. Upon parking; I inspected the rudder and could see absolutely no marks of impact. I can only think the wire bounced off the beacon but did not damage it. Flying low to save a few minutes of flight time almost caused a crash. My not continually looking outside the cockpit and being distracted by the GPS was potentially fatal. Low level flight will not be done again.
Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.