Uploaded May 2020 | Updated September 2026, 11 hours ago
Pulled from the AOPA Air Safety Institute archives, this VHS provides great tips for seeing and avoiding towers and wires which are still relevant today.
Original Press Release from 1995:
ASF Produces New Training Video on Avoiding Wire Strikes
The AOPA Air Safety Foundation has produced a new video to teach pilots how to avoid wire strikes. The Terrible Truth about Wire Strikes debunks many misconceptions about these accidents.
"Most pilots assume wire strikes happen on 'scuddy' days or during unauthorized buzzing," said John Steuernagle, ASF's director of program development. "But during some 90 percent of wire strike accidents, reported visibility was three miles or better. Nearly 85 percent of strikes occurred with ceilings higher than 1,000 feet."
Steuernagle said the majority of accidents involve experienced pilots operating legally. Fixed-wing aircraft were involved in four times as many wire strikes as helicopters.
An average of 115 general aviation wire strikes are reported each year, but wire strikes are known to be under-reported: Only an estimated 10 percent of strikes are reported. Dangling wires and interrupted service are mute evidence that many more aircraft hit wires but are able to continue flying.
Pilots can't expect aeronautical charts to alert them to wires. Although 70 percent of wire strikes occur below 100 feet agl, charts don't show lines built less than 200 feet above the surface.
The Terrible Truth about Wire Strikes was developed in cooperation with the California Wire Strike Prevention Working Group, a non-profit committee of aviation and utility company interests from California and around the nation.
Other "From the Archives" episodes:
"Single Pilot IFR" - youtu.be/N4smrN6ApL0
Pulled from the AOPA Air Safety Institute archives, this VHS provides great tips for seeing and avoiding towers and wires which are still relevant today.
Original Press Release from 1995:
ASF Produces New Training Video on Avoiding Wire Strikes
The AOPA Air Safety Foundation has produced a new video to teach pilots how to avoid wire strikes. The Terrible Truth about Wire Strikes debunks many misconceptions about these accidents.
"Most pilots assume wire strikes happen on 'scuddy' days or during unauthorized buzzing," said John Steuernagle, ASF's director of program development. "But during some 90 percent of wire strike accidents, reported visibility was three miles or better. Nearly 85 percent of strikes occurred with ceilings higher than 1,000 feet."
Steuernagle said the majority of accidents involve experienced pilots operating legally. Fixed-wing aircraft were involved in four times as many wire strikes as helicopters.
An average of 115 general aviation wire strikes are reported each year, but wire strikes are known to be under-reported: Only an estimated 10 percent of strikes are reported. Dangling wires and interrupted service are mute evidence that many more aircraft hit wires but are able to continue flying.
Pilots can't expect aeronautical charts to alert them to wires. Although 70 percent of wire strikes occur below 100 feet agl, charts don't show lines built less than 200 feet above the surface.
The Terrible Truth about Wire Strikes was developed in cooperation with the California Wire Strike Prevention Working Group, a non-profit committee of aviation and utility company interests from California and around the nation.
Other "From the Archives" episodes:
"Single Pilot IFR" - youtu.be/N4smrN6ApL0
