XBradTC

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XBradTC

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Plane clips power line | GJSentinel.com

In a lucky twist of fate, no one was hurt Thursday afternoon after the pilot of a single-
engine, jet fighter-style airplane clipped a cable spanning the Colorado River, lost a piece of a wing on Interstate 70 and sent the cable wire smashing into vehicles traveling the highway. Witnesses reported the wire acted like a…

In a lucky twist of fate, no one was hurt Thursday afternoon after the pilot of a single-
engine, jet fighter-style airplane clipped a cable spanning the Colorado River, lost a piece of a wing on Interstate 70 and sent the cable wire smashing into vehicles traveling the highway.

Witnesses reported the wire acted like a whip, taking out several windshields on vehicles and causing damages, including damages to a semitrailer.

The pilot, who had taken off in a Aero L39C from the Grand Junction Regional Airport, returned to make an emergency landing on the runway about 2 p.m., according to an official with the Federal Aviation Administration.

via Plane clips power line | GJSentinel.com.

Wire strikes usually end much worse than this.

 

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  1. captainned

    “An L-39 single-engined LearJet”. Both Bill Lear and Jan Vlcek are rolling in their graves.

    That said, a testament to Eastern European/Soviet/Russian design standards.

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  2. Tarl

    Is there a good / sensible / excusable reason for him to fly so low over the Interstate?

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  3. xbradtc

    None that I’m aware of.

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  4. ultimaratioregis

    I bet he had a smelly flight suit!

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  5. captainned

    Not a one. Just be glad it wasn’t a tramway lift cable.

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  6. Pave Low John

    I still have the occasional dream about flying at night and almost hitting wires, that was a real hazard for NVG helicopter ops (especially in South Korea). Wire strikes and rolling over during dust-out landings accounted for almost all of the helicopter fatalities that I became aware of when I first started flying in 1994.

    The pilot in this story probably didn't have a map with all of the wire hazards in his area marked (either by hand or by software for digital maps), so he just decided to impress the tourists on I-70 with his tactical flying and almost bought the farm.  Hard to imagine the pilot had no idea what to expect.  I mean, c'mon, it's I-70.  Where else in that canyon would you expect wires?  At least fly over it once at altitude and check it out before you try the low-level thing...

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  7. Shaun Evertson

    I know that jet! Occasional transient at KIBM.

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