Accident to the Schweizer 269C registered F-GEXN on 12/05/2023 at Saint-Julien-de-Concelles
Power line strike during aerial work, collision with ground
The pilot had to spray white opaque paint on some polytunnels. He was acquainted with the site and its surroundings as he had worked there a month earlier. Before starting the rotations, he did not carry out a reconnaissance flight. The flight path at a height of less than ten metres, overhead the polytunnels, followed a MV power line which the pilot knew about before starting the flights.
When the pilot had come to the end of a polytunnel and started his turn for a new spraying operation, still at low height, the helicopter’s left skid came into contact with the MV power line cables which the pilot had forgotten about. In addition to this, the pole which was carrying the three cables of this power line was on the pilot’s LH side, it was also probable that it was outside his field of vision.
Visually hampered by the position of the sun facing him on his flight path and there being no marked contrast between the cables, the field of crops and the horizon line, it was made more difficult for the pilot to detect the power line cables that he struck.