A single engine aircraft pilot reported striking a power line while conducting a shallow low approac...

Narrative:

While flying a simulated approach into runway 27 at tri-city airport in west lafayette; oh; I clipped a power line with the propeller of the airplane. Neither I; nor my front seat passenger; saw the line prior to contact. I was previously aware that the airport did have obstacles on either end; but since I was not actually landing; I did not believe that any of them would be an obstacle to my path.the plane has recently been returned to service following major repair work and annual inspection. I was flying for the purpose of checking out systems operation as well as to condition the new engine. While performing these flights; I was giving rides to fellow mechanics that had played a role in the airplanes repair.I had flown twice earlier today; with no event. On this particular flight; following our departure; we entered an area of light rain. While visibility met legal requirements; I decided to turn around and told my passengers that there just was no reason to take chances and was turning around. As we came around the south-west side of coshocton; we were in the clear with unlimited visibility. It was at that point that I decided to fly to tri-city.we arrived in the vicinity of tri-city airport and I entered the downwind leg for runway 27. I performed my approach just as I would had I intended to land; with no intention of so doing; with the exception that I only used 10 degrees of flap. Had I used more flap; I would have likely flown a steeper descent path and avoided the line. We were all set up to overfly the runway and never saw the power lines. I saw a flash and a fleeting image of something pass us and realized that we had hit a power line. I made an immediate and uneventful return to ZZZ. Upon landing; I phoned the power company to try and determine whose line I had hit. As soon as I was off the phone; sheriff walked in and I gave him the details of the event. My right seat passenger noted that these power lines did not have orange markers on them. Surely; the installation of orange balls would have avoided this occurrence.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A single engine aircraft pilot reported striking a power line while conducting a shallow low approach at the Tri City Airport (80G). He stated that the power line was not visible and had no aerial marker balls attached.

Narrative: While flying a simulated approach into runway 27 at Tri-City Airport in West Lafayette; OH; I clipped a power line with the propeller of the airplane. Neither I; nor my front seat passenger; saw the line prior to contact. I was previously aware that the airport did have obstacles on either end; but since I was not actually landing; I did not believe that any of them would be an obstacle to my path.The plane has recently been returned to service following major repair work and annual inspection. I was flying for the purpose of checking out systems operation as well as to condition the new engine. While performing these flights; I was giving rides to fellow mechanics that had played a role in the airplanes repair.I had flown twice earlier today; with no event. On this particular flight; following our departure; we entered an area of light rain. While visibility met legal requirements; I decided to turn around and told my passengers that there just was no reason to take chances and was turning around. As we came around the south-west side of Coshocton; we were in the clear with unlimited visibility. It was at that point that I decided to fly to Tri-City.We arrived in the vicinity of Tri-City Airport and I entered the downwind leg for runway 27. I performed my approach just as I would had I intended to land; with no intention of so doing; with the exception that I only used 10 degrees of flap. Had I used more flap; I would have likely flown a steeper descent path and avoided the line. We were all set up to overfly the runway and never saw the power lines. I saw a flash and a fleeting image of something pass us and realized that we had hit a power line. I made an immediate and uneventful return to ZZZ. Upon landing; I phoned the power company to try and determine whose line I had hit. As soon as I was off the phone; Sheriff walked in and I gave him the details of the event. My right seat passenger noted that these power lines did not have orange markers on them. Surely; the installation of orange balls would have avoided this occurrence.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.

Attributes
ACN	1511930
Time
Date	201801
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	80G.Airport
State Reference	OH
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Small Aircraft High Wing 1 Eng Fixed Gear
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Final Approach
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Commercial Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Instrument
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 6 Flight Crew Type 200
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Inflight Event / Encounter Object

A single engine aircraft pilot reported striking a power line while conducting a shallow low approach at the tri city airport (80G). He stated that the power line was not visible and had no aerial marker balls attached.