19990909036579A

(.19) On September 9, 1999, about 1050 hours pacific daylight time, a Piper PA-22-150, N1775P, collided with steel skyline wires strung between high tension lattice towers and impacted terrain 5 miles northeast of Strathmore, California. The airplane, operated by the pilot/owner under the provisions of 14 CFR part 91, was destroyed. The private pilot sustained fatal injuries. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed in the area throughout the day. No flight plan was filed for the personal flight, which is believed to have originated sometime before 0800 from the eckert airport, Strathmore. According to other pilots at the eckert airport, the pilot had been traveling to surrounding airports during the past month to pass out flyers about the sale of his aircraft. No one was aware of the purpose for this flight. One witness arrived at the airport at 0800 and observed that the pilot's car was there and the airplane was gone. The pilot was reported missing at 2230 when he did not return home that evening. An alert notice (alnot) was issued by the federal aviation administration (FAA). According to the USAF rescue coordination center, an emergenc y locator transmitter (ELT) signal was first received by an orbiting satellite at 1351 eastern daylight time on September 9. A civil air patrol (cap) mission was activated and localized the ELT signal to a probable accident site and passed the coordinates on to the tulare county sheriff's department, who located the airplane the following morning. The accident site was located near the center of a wide valley oriented in a northeast-southwest direction in rolling hilly terrain. Two sets of electrical transmission wires, operated by the southern California edison company, spanned the valley in a northwest-southeast direction, and crossed the valley approximately 500 feet northeast of the wreckage location. The towers that supported the wires were visible on the hilltops, and the open span across the valley was approximately 1 mile. At the center of the valley the wires were approximately 200 feet above the ground. The two sets of towers support five wires each. Two are steel, nonconducting skyline wires, and three are copper electrical conductors. The tower that supported the northeast set of wires was approximately 50 feet taller than the tower supporting the southwest set of wires. The northeast set of wires was visibly undamaged. A skyline wire from the southwest set of wires had been severed and there was a "shiny" spot on the other skyline wire that was still connected to the high tension lattice towers. No power outages had been reported on the day of the accident in the accident area. The fuselage, empennage, and right wing were located approximately 500 feet southwest of the shiny location on the skyline wire. The left wing was destroyed and the outboard portion of the wing was located approximately 300 feet from the fuselage wreckage. (-23)crashed in hilly terrain after striking skyline wires on southern California edison transmission towers. (.4) on September 9, 1999, about 1050 hours pacific daylight time, a Piper PA-22-150, N1775P, collided with steel skyline wires strung between high tension lattice towers and impacted terrain 5 miles northeast of Strathmore, California. The airplane, operated by the pilot/owner under the provisions of 14 CFR part 91, was destroyed. The private pilot sustained fatal injuries. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed in the area throughout the day. No flight plan was filed for the personal flight that departed the eckert airport around 0900. Eckert airport, where the airplane is based, is a non-towered airport located in Strathmore. According to family members, the pilot had dropped off his daughter at school about 0830 and made plans to pick her back up at 1500 the same day. He told his spouse that he was going to work on his airplane in the interim. At 1700, the spouse had to pickup their daughter at school because the pilot had not arrived to pick her up at the specified time. On the way home they drove by the airport to see if the pilot was there. She stated that his vehicle was at the airport, but the airplane was gone. When the airplane did not return by evening, a concerned family member called the tulare county sheriff's dept. About 1940 to report the pilot missing. They also told the sheriff's deputy that he likes to fly around success valley near milo cdf. At 2230, the federal aviation administration (FAA) was notified and an alert notice (alnot) was issued. According to mission logs obtained from the united states air force rescue coordination center (afrcc), an emergency locator transmitter (ELT) beacon signal was identified via an orbiting satellite at 1221 on the day of the accident. After the first ELT signal at 1221, two passes by orbiting satellites reported negative contact. At 1500, a merge location of two ELT hits was identified. There was a negative pass made by satellite at 1502, and negative reports of an ELT signal from airborne aircraft. At 1516, another merge location was identified in the same area, and at 1522, afrcc activated the mission with the California civil air patrol (cap) squadron. The cap localized the ELT signal to a probable accident site location and then provided the coordinates to the local authorities, who located the airplane in success valley the following morning at 0800. A safety board investigator found an outboard portion of the airplane's left wing under electrical power transmission wires; a severed skyline wire was also on the ground adjacent to the wing debris. A skyline wire is a nonconductive steel cable that passes in-between high-tension towers for structural purposes. Two sets of electrical skyline wires, operated by the southern California edison company, cross the valley in a northwest-southeast direction passing approx. 500 ft. northeast of the main wreckage location. The two sets of wires are approx. 50 feet apart and towers supporting the wires were visible on the hilltops to the northwest and southeast; the open span across the valley was 5,190 feet. At the center of the valley the wires are approx. horizontal and are suspended approx. 175 feet above the valley floor.