Pilot has near-miss with radio tower on high country farm

RNZ News

5 days ago

A screen shot from the video posted by a pilot showing their near miss with a radio tower (to the right) which they failed to detect.
Photo:
Supplied / Screenshot
Farmers are being urged to tell agricultural pilots about flight hazards on their farms, after a near-miss between a pilot and a radio tower that runs electronic farming systems.
It comes as more high-tech devices are being used on farms.
The video taken in high country central North Island showed a helicopter spray pilot narrowly missing a tall radio tower of technology company Halter for its virtual farm fencing and electronic cattle collar systems.
Halter said its towers that were just under 10-metres tall enabled farm connectivity, and were compliant with Civil Aviation Authority rules.
The pilot, who wanted to remain anonymous, sent the video to the New Zealand Agricultural Aviation Association, that then shared it on social media.
Association executive officer Tony Michelle said poor light conditions meant the pilot did not know the tower was there, until they were right above it.
"The towers vary in height from 3 to 10 metres, which is in the normal operating range for helicopters undertaking spray operations, so these are quite a significant flight hazard," he said.
"But I'd like to reiterate they're no different to the other hazards that our pilots deal with everyday in the low level environment; wires, power poles, trees and the likes, pivot irrigators."
Michelle said the association was pleased with the reponse it had from Halter, that promised to remind its clients to inform pilots about the location of towers on-site.
"This isn't about a beat up at all on these on these systems, it's more about getting some awareness out there, particularly with farmers, so that they are aware of their obligations to notify our pilots of these hazards when they're on farm," he said.
A Halter spokesperson said it was "proactive" at ensuring safe installation and operation of towers on farms.
"Halter works alongside the New Zealand Agricultural Aviation Association to promote safe operations for farmers and agricultural aerial operators," they said.
"Halter also educates farmers of the importance of informing agricultural aviation operators of tower locations before they commence operations on their farm."
Meanwhile, Michelle said the farmer of the site in the video had since posted the tower's location to the New Zealand Defence Force's Flight Advisor platform for identifying local flight hazards.
"There is some of the GPS systems that are used by agricultural aircrafts now where hazards can be loaded onto online platforms that then come up when the pilot is downloads the GPS files for any particular operation on farm," he said.
"But the best way is for the farmer in a pre-operational brief, to have a map, identify with the pilot where the location of a tower or any other hazard, and actually do a fly around to make sure that they have identified all those hazards to the pilot."
Civil Aviation Act rules showed agricultural aircrafts could operate below 500 feet above ground level, and low-level operations came with known risks like wires or other obstacles.
A Civil Aviation Authority spokesperson said agricultural pilots doing low-level work like crop dusting "must stay alert for hazards".
"Sometimes small towers and poles can blend into the environment and can easily be missed in a recce flight which can be problematic," they said.
"Pilots need to be informed about all hazards and associated risks by landowners and there is also onus on the pilot to ask about these.
"As well, things like cabin configuration and the time of day (sunstrike - shade) can also be barriers to not identifying small obstacles."
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero
,
a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.