FAASTeam seminar on Wire Strike!

[RkyMtnHI]

Some of our friends will be putting on this FAASTeam Seminar next Friday night.. It will be a very enlightening evening and if you are close you should come. If you are interested please go on-line and sign up so they can have the right amount of food as it will be catered. If you have any questions you can pm me..

 

Most of our team will be there.

 

FAA Safety Team | Safer Skies Through Education

You have asked us to notify you when a seminar is scheduled that meets your criteria. The following seminar may be of interest to you:

"An Evening for Helicopter Pilots"

Topic: Personal lessons learned from Rich Westra's tragic accident when his JetRanger struck wires and crashed near Meeker, Colorado.

On Friday, January 21, 2011 at 7:00 PM

Location:

Front Range Community College Westminster Campus

3645 W. 112th Avenue

Rocky Mountain Room

Westminster, CO 80031

 

Select Number:

NM0335883

 

Description:

Mr. Rich Westra, former Channel 7 News Copter Pilot and President of ATS Helicopter at Centennial Airport will talk about flying in the dangerous wire-strike environment, and how even when you "know" where the wires are, it's nearly impossible to miss them.

 

To view further details and registration information for this seminar, click here

 

The following credit(s) are available for the WINGS/AMT Programs:

KEB 1.00

[rick1128]

Some of our friends will be putting on this FAASTeam Seminar next Friday night.. It will be a very enlightening evening and if you are close you should come. If you are interested please go on-line and sign up so they can have the right amount of food as it will be catered. If you have any questions you can pm me..

 

Most of our team will be there.

 

FAA Safety Team | Safer Skies Through Education

You have asked us to notify you when a seminar is scheduled that meets your criteria. The following seminar may be of interest to you:

"An Evening for Helicopter Pilots"

Topic: Personal lessons learned from Rich Westra's tragic accident when his JetRanger struck wires and crashed near Meeker, Colorado.

On Friday, January 21, 2011 at 7:00 PM

Location:

Front Range Community College Westminster Campus

3645 W. 112th Avenue

Rocky Mountain Room

Westminster, CO 80031

 

Select Number:

NM0335883

 

Description:

Mr. Rich Westra, former Channel 7 News Copter Pilot and President of ATS Helicopter at Centennial Airport  will talk about flying in the dangerous wire-strike environment, and how even when you "know" where the wires are, it's nearly impossible to miss them.

 

To view further details and registration information for this seminar, click here

 

The following credit(s) are available for the WINGS/AMT Programs:

KEB 1.00

 

Unfortunately, I will not be in the area. However, as I requested before, would you please invite the airplane community to this event. Please feel free to use the material I sent you. Considering that approximately 70% of the wire strike accidents happen in airplanes, it is an under appreciated risk factor.

 

Thank you.

 

Richard

[rick1128]

Some of our friends will be putting on this FAASTeam Seminar next Friday night.. It will be a very enlightening evening and if you are close you should come. If you are interested please go on-line and sign up so they can have the right amount of food as it will be catered. If you have any questions you can pm me..

 

Most of our team will be there.

 

FAA Safety Team | Safer Skies Through Education

You have asked us to notify you when a seminar is scheduled that meets your criteria. The following seminar may be of interest to you:

"An Evening for Helicopter Pilots"

Topic: Personal lessons learned from Rich Westra's tragic accident when his JetRanger struck wires and crashed near Meeker, Colorado.

On Friday, January 21, 2011 at 7:00 PM

Location:

Front Range Community College Westminster Campus

3645 W. 112th Avenue

Rocky Mountain Room

Westminster, CO 80031

 

Select Number:

NM0335883

 

Description:

Mr. Rich Westra, former Channel 7 News Copter Pilot and President of ATS Helicopter at Centennial Airport  will talk about flying in the dangerous wire-strike environment, and how even when you "know" where the wires are, it's nearly impossible to miss them.

 

To view further details and registration information for this seminar, click here

 

The following credit(s) are available for the WINGS/AMT Programs:

KEB 1.00

 

Unfortunately, I will not be in the area. However, as I requested before, would you please encourage them to invite the airplane community to this event. Please feel free to use the material I sent you. Considering that approximately 70% of the wire strike accidents happen in airplanes, it is an under appreciated risk factor.

 

Thank you.

 

Richard

[280fxColorado]

Thanks for the heads up, DP. Very sad story (link) about Rich's accident. Should be an insightful evening. I'll try to round up some more...

[RkyMtnHI]

Unfortunately, I will not be in the area. However, as I requested before, would you please encourage them to invite the airplane community to this event. Please feel free to use the material I sent you. Considering that approximately 70% of the wire strike accidents happen in airplanes, it is an under appreciated risk factor.

 

Thank you.

 

Richard

 

 

Hey Richard, thanks for the reminder about the 'other side' :-).. i have forwarded the email to our FW buddies, will you resend that email to me about the stats?? I'd like to forward that as well.. please use my comcast address.

 

thanks,

 

dp

[clay]

wish i was around to attend this one

[captkirkyota]

Ever considered recording such events like this and hosting the video on your website?

I'd be there if I wasn't in Fl.

[OneCoqui]

Same here! RP

[RkyMtnHI]

Hey Folks,

 

it will be recorded, i'll let you know when/where you can see the results.

 

aloha,

 

dp

[captkirkyota]

Hey Folks,

 

it will be recorded, i'll let you know when/where you can see the results.

 

aloha,

 

dp

 

Good Deal! Thanks, you da-man!

[RkyMtnHI]

Hey Folks,

 

The Wire Strike seminar was last night and it was video recorded.. as soon as it's edited and put up somewhere i'll get you a link. It was a very interesting evening with some amazing information. There were just under 100 pilots present, it was nice to see so many old timers participating and sharing their experiences. More than a few had well over 10K hours..

 

There were four schools represented, which was very cool, but only two school owners present. Jack Ferguson from Mountain One was the other owner, i was really hoping to see more support in that area. We had seventeen team member/students present, Front Range and Mtn1 both had a good showing as well.. It was very cool to see some old friends from the other schools. I took information to the KBJC fixed wing schools and invited them, but i didn't see anyone that i recognized from that side of the fence.. i'm sure there were a few tho.

 

The best part, of course, was Rich, he was humble and sincere and went thru the accident play-by-play not holding back. The wire strike took place on a gas pipeline inspection in the mountains and they showed a video taken the year before on the same route which showed how insidious the wires were. A very interesting point was that Rich had flown the route three times before over the past few years doing the same inspection, so he had seen the wires before. That being said, he flew many of these routes during the year so it would be difficult for anyone to remember them all for sure, they have created a data base of obstacles but these wires were not indicated. Some contributing factors could have been that, they were one mile from the end of that particular ten mile inspection after flying for five hours in that environment, it was the end of a long day for them and they were almost home. The sun was also in exactly the right direction to make seeing the wires even more difficult, the poles that supported the wires were IN the trees on both sides of the corridor so they were also impossible to spot. They were flying somewhere around 100' because of the equipment they were using operates best at that altitude. It was interesting to me to find that the pressure in the gas pipes could be as high as 1000psi!!

 

I was touched that Rich would do this at all, much less so soon after the accident and loss of his life partner and wife Kelly. He is very focused on reaching as many pilots and crew as he can with the very real knowledge that it could happen to anybody... Rich has over 18K hours in helicopters.

 

There was so much more information as many in the crowd added insights and Michael opened and closed with some of his experiences as well.. i will find out how to get the rest of it out to you asap..

 

I want to offer a very humble thanks to Rich for sharing this with us, Michael and everyone else that helped put this together, and to all of the pilots that cared enough to be there and be a part of the solution.

 

respectfully,

 

dp

[edspilot]

Dennis:

 

Sounds like the evening was a success. Congrats Dennis.

 

I am sure each time Rich presents this, it is all part of his healing. Rich, even though I was not able to attend, thank you for giving back in an effort to help others. God's strength to you in your moving forward.

 

 

My best to all,

 

edspilot

[rick1128]

I took information to the KBJC fixed wing schools and invited them, but i didn't see anyone that i recognized from that side of the fence.. i'm sure there were a few tho.

 

The best part, of course, was Rich, he was humble and sincere and went thru the accident play-by-play not holding back. The wire strike took place on a gas pipeline inspection in the mountains and they showed a video taken the year before on the same route which showed how insidious the wires were. A very interesting point was that Rich had flown the route three times before over the past few years doing the same inspection, so he had seen the wires before.

 

dp

 

Dennis,

 

Thank you for your assistance in my project for this year. I can understand why there just a few FW folks in attendance. It is an issue that is not very high on the radar screen for the FW folks. But every journey starts with that first small step. Please keep on trying.

 

Like Bob Freest stated in his wire course, wire strike accidents tend to happen to experienced pilots and they usually knew the wires were there. It can be embarrassing, but wires are an insidious hazard. Things like ski slopes with the gondola lifts and quarries with big drag lines. No one thinks of them as wire hazards, but they are and have gotten airplanes and helicopters to prove it.

 

Richard