The pilot of a Robinson R-44 that hit a radio tower in Houston on Oct. 20 was talking to ATC when it happened according to the NTSB's preliminary report. The helicopter was on a commercial sight seeing flight when it struck the 1,003-foot tower about 900 feet. All four on the helicopter were killed and the tower was toppled. No one on the ground was hurt.
That’s always been a risky patch of sky for flying VFR.
You have to fly low below the Bravo shelfs, just above a heavily populated area, and through a narrow corridor. I try to never mill around that area even in the daytime.
Yea. It seems that the new breed of pilots can’t process NOTAMS, airspace, obstacles, old style lights, or even modern moving maps. They need strobe lights right in their face to take towers “seriously”.
Pilot not looking out the window. Traffic is not “in sight” on your ADS-b. Foreflight, other EFBs, and most Garmin units have obstacle warning. I can’t imagine operating a helicopter at night without it.
Lesson here is don’t fly, especially at night, without proper planning, without knowing the minimum safe altitude in your area, and without having the proper chart(s) for reference. If in doubt, ask ATC if in contact, which was the requirement in this case here. This was avoidable. The HOU Helicopter chart, AND TAC, CLEARLY depict the four 1000 ft. towers in the downtown area. The TAC clearly depicts minimum safe altitudes and VFR routes around the Class B airspace. At night, in clear conditions, it is too easy to mistake tower lighting in a congested metro area for other surface lights or airborne aircraft.
I fly from an airport quite near an antenna farm, the tallest of which is 2000’ AGL, and a couple are 1500’ AGL. They are very difficult to see even in VMC daylight, so you’d better know at all times where they are. They are equally hard to see at night as their lights often blend with surrounding ground lighting. If I were king, I’d mandate that all towers above, say, 700’ AGL, have sequenced flashing strobes beginning 200’ up the tower, at 100’ intervals, all the way to the top. A “rabbit” running up the tower would be much easier to notice.
There are a few monster towers near me within the radius of where I like to be at lower altitudes when returning home. They are not easy to spot unless you are looking for them and I have taught myself to be excessively vigilant (paranoid?) in that area. Outside of my usual stomping grounds however, I have found places (just south of Redbird and Grand Prairie in Dallas for example) where it almost seems like a spider set them up trying to catch us like flies. I agree with WBJohn that more dynamic lighting should be mandated for these towers when they are close to concentrations of low altitude operations. Even though it is on us to see and avoid, it is impossible to be 100% vigilant and this time it cost us. May they all rest in peace, and prayers to their families.