By Emma Kelly in Perth
The Aerial Agriculture Association of Australia (AAAA) has slammed a study into wire-strike incidents published last week by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB), arguing that training for agricultural pilots is already proactive.
The ATSB recommends more research be conducted into wire-strike accidents in aerial agriculture operations after it studied incidents in the country between 1994 and 2004. The ATSB also urges the industry to be more proactive in reducing the number of wire-strike accidents. “This includes the development of specialised and adequate training for agriculture pilots who operate extensively in low-level wire environments,” it says.
The AAAA, however, says the ATSB “got it wrong by lumping in agricultural accidents with non-agricultural accidents and then drawing the conclusion that agricutural training is deficient”. The AAAA says it is the most proactive sector in the industry, other than airlines, in training and safety.
The study was prompted by three helicopter wire-strike incidents in New South Wales in 2004, which resulted in two deaths and injuries to three others. None of the accidents were agricultural flying or spraying, but rather aerial survey flying, according to the AAAA.
The ATSB found there were 117 wire-strike accidents and 98 wire-strike incidents over the 10 years. The rate per 100,000h flown ranged from 0.9 in 1997 and 1998 to 0.1 in 2003. There was a downward trend from 1998, but a return to previous accident rates – 0.55 per 100,000 hours flown – in 2004, according to the ATSB, which says that drought conditions in 2002 and 2003 meant there was a reduction in the number of hours flown by aircraft in aerial agriculture operations. Aerial agriculture operations accounted for 75 accidents, or 64% of the total. Fixed-wing aircraft were involved in 56% and rotary-wing aircraft in 44%. The accidents resulted in 45 fatalities, 21 serious injuries and 44 minor injuries.
Phil Hurst, executive officer of the AAAA, says the report’s conclusions do not reflect the sophisticated training taking place in the aerial agricultural industry.
Source: Flight International
