The pilot was flying about 700 feet above ground level (AGL), then noticed that the Cirrus SR22 had descended “well below 500 feet.”
He could see a pump station near The Hammocks, Florida, with power lines crossing the waterway and stated, “I’m too low.”
He was traveling about 170 kts when he pulled back to climb and heard a “thud.”
The airplane continued flying, but the pilot had limited rudder control.
He returned to the departure airport and landed uneventfully, however, he noticed that the rudder was missing from the airplane.
He looked up the pump station address and drove over to find the rudder laying in the grass near the power lines.
The rudder had hit the powe rline and separated from the airplane, resulting in substantial damage.
Probable Cause: The pilot’s failure to maintain an appropriate altitude above obstacles, which resulted controlled flight into a powerline.
To download the final report. Click here. This will trigger a PDF download to your device.
This March 2022 accident report is provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn from the misfortunes of others.
I guess if you leave your feet flat on the floor you wouldn’t notice anyway???
So who needs a rudder?
I’m an Ercoupe driver. We don’t need no stinking rudder pedals.
So, then you can’t slip an Ercoupe ?
My question is; what the ‘heck’ was this guy doing, flying at 200 mph at 500-700 ft ?
Maybe to impress the 2 women in the other seats ?
This guys should buy a lottery ticket, since he’s one of the luckiest pilots that I can remember.
There are lessons to be learned from this incident. My teacher drilled to “look out for the lines” if you go this low, regardless if the reason is justifiable or not (search and rescue, animal counting or good old rule braking fun that nobody admits) and suggested to “trim a bit up pressure” on the controls. Add a any amount of complacency to any low flying and you have fatal mixture.
Airplane flying at 170kts, begins abrupt climb, rudder hits wire(s) and separates from said airplane. I don’t know about you people, but this scenario presents a very interesting and puzzling image in my mind. Strange doins’ out thata way, I’ll tell you what.
Too bad a tox screen wasn’t performed. Might have been interesting.
If I was zooming through the sky at 170kts at only 700 AG, I’d damn sure be paying attention to my altitude.
Suddenly finding yourself “well below 500 feet” points to a terrible lack of attention.
I read this report and wondered what the purpose is sustained flight below 1000 or 2000 (depending) was. I really wondered why the pilot seemingly was intentionally??? flying that low and fast. Maybe the full NTSB report reveals the answer.
The case reminds me of a cautionary statement I received from my first CFI many years ago who said
“Altitude is your friend” Nobody ever collided with the sky”
Trying to fly under powerlines? Just a wild guess.