Special Edition
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Contents Editorial 1983 and 1984 saw one of Australia's most severe droughts broken by widespread ' and consistent rains. Initially the precipitat ion was welcomed by the whole rural community, but early in 1984 floods and rain damage to crops had produced a different set of problems. The breaking of the drought was also welcomed by the agricultural aviation 3 Editorial Aviation Safety Digest is prepared by the Bureau of Air Safety community as it brought with it a long awaited increase in contracts for aerial 4 Operational and environmental pressures on Investigation in pursuance of Regulation 283 of the Air Naviga spraying and other flying activity. Regrettably the increase in activity has been tion Regulations and is published by the Australian Govern the agricultural operator and pilot ment Publishing Service. It is distributed free of charge to accompanied by a corresponding increase in the number of aircraft accidents. 6 Aerial agricultural accidents in Australia: an Australian licence holders (except student pilots), registered The continuing high rate of accidents and the increase in the overal l numbers is \ overview aircraft owners and certain other persons and organisations causing the Bureau concern, so this special agricultural edition of Aviation Safety having an operational interest in Australian civil aviation. This 8 Dress for crash survival special edition is available only to Australian aerial application Digest, consisting of a selection of articles previously published in the Digest and 10 Agricultural pilots and skill fatigue operators. a number of new items, is directed specifically to operators and pilots of aircraft involved in agricultural operations to reinforce the need to maintain professional 12 Wire strikes: the threat and the defence Unless otherwise noted, articles in this publication are based 21 Low level turbulence on Australian accidents or incidents. standards. While some of the articles are based on data several years old, they 24 Chemicals and the ag. pilot remain typical of the problems agricultural operators must resolve. Readers on the free list experiencing problems with distribu· In the current circumstances it would be surprising if every opportunity was not 25 Landing area standards tion or wishing to notify a change of address should write to: taken to make good, to the maximum extent, the losses which occurred during the 26 The experience factor The Publications Distribution Officer drought years. The Bureau, however, is concerned that, coupled with increased 28 Why didn't I see that wire until too late? Department of Aviation activity, there should be increased awareness of the very high risks that P.O. Box 18390, Melbourne, Vic. 3001 28 Load dumping accompany any degradation in the standards for safe operations. The recent 29 lnflight structural damage Aviation Safety Digest is also available on subscription from increase in the numbers of agricultural accidents, although probably to some 30 Wire strikes the Australian Government Publishing Service. Inquiries and extent a product of increased activity, is a clear indication that safety standards notifications of change of address should be directed to: 33 Unnecessary low level transit= disaster must never be relaxed . 34 The dangers of distraction Mail Order Sales As the selection of articles in this special Digest indicates, the range of safety Australian Government Publishing Service 35 Cable cutter for agricultural aircraft G.P.O. Box 84, Canberra, A.C. T. 2601 matters requiring the serious attention of agricultural operators is considerable: 36 Planning a spray run pilot fatigue, the handling of chemicals, flying clothing, experience, operational Subscriptions may also be lodged at AGPS Bookshops in the techniques and conditions, wire strikes and aircraft equipment are some of the 39 The ICAO safety guide to agricultural capital cities. aviation operations important issues addressed in this magazine. Reader contributions and correspondence on articles should Wire strikes, of course, continue to be the major cause of accidents and be addressed to: fatalities, and it is for that reason the topic is emphasised here. There are two The Director lengthy articles on wire strikes, plus another on the physiology of the eye which Bureau of Air Safety Investigation explains that it simply is not possible to see wires in time to avoid them - pilots P.O. Box 367 must know before they take off where wires are and, while infl ight, they must look Canberra City, A. C. T. 2601 for signs of wires such as poles, insulators on poles, and c ross-trees. © Commonwealth of Australia 1985 The danger of distraction is also highlighted. Distraction is one of the main ISSN 0045-1207 reasons for wire strikes, particularly in relation to wires the pilot already knows are R841237 Cat. No. 84 1660 2 there. Deteriorating weather, financial pressures, marital problems and pre Front cover Printed by Ambassador Press Pty. Ltd. occupation with securing other jobs are typical of the distracting in fluences which 51 Good Street, Granville, N.S. W. 2142. The Australian-produced Transavia Skyfarmer T-300A can affect inflight performance. Pilots must make every endeavour to keep their mind on the job immediately at hand and deal with other problems on ly when they are safe and stationary on the ground. Distraction is a killer. It is also significant to note that BASI statistics show that it is not just inexperienced pilots who are involved in accidents. For example, the majority of wire strikes involve pi lots with over 3000 hours flight t ime and who are over 30 years of age. Familiarity and complacency are potentially lethal for all pi lots, but even more so for the agricultural pi lot. ~LI _/ ---+ : (Paul Choquenot) Director Bureau of Air Safety Investigation 2 I ASD ag. issue ASD ag. issue I 3 Operational and environmental pressures on the agricultural operator and pilot A paper presented to the Aerial Agricultural Association of Australia by C. f. Freeman (Department of Aviation) In the early days of agricultural aviation in Australia assertion of indiVIdual rights means that the pilot must and indeed up to and including the mid 1960s, be more aware of his flight path and areas of potential agricultural aviation was in the main confined to broad complaints to authorities. acre topdressing and spraying operations. There was a Greater productivity is required because of steeply small percentage of application carried out upon more escalating costs. intensive crops but this work did not really take off The combination of all these factors means more until the late 1960s when the dual impact of wheat pressure upon the pilot with an increased risk of quotas and lower demand fo r wool forced many distraction at a time when' concentration upon the job operators to r educe the scale of their operations and in hand is more vital than ever before. look to cash crop application as a means of The operator over recent years has faced increased diversification and survival. costs to the tune of 100 per cent on labour and During the 1960s many areas that had not been materials and aircraft costing two to three times that of previously served with mains electricity and relied upon the early 1970s, while we all know of the massive wind generation of power, etc., became connected to increases in the cost of aviation fuel. · the State grids. Additionally, the operator faces threats to his Following the advent of Rachael Carson's book The continued operation in areas where complaints Silent Spring the layman began to take more of an regarding aircraft noise and use of agricultural interest in his surroundings and the effects of many chemicals is seen to be a threat to people living there. substances upon his well being and that of his children, The conservationists have seized upon the application when previously much had been accepted as just part of of agricultural chemicals as a means to foster their living. demands and desires for a clean and unchanging world. We saw old words take on new significance. Where Such a world, I fear, may have a society much smaller one was used to the word 'environs' meaning those and different to the one we know, for we cannot, in the areas closely surrounding a particular place, the word foreseeable future, maintain our existing level of full 'en vironment' appeared on many lips describing and bellies throughout an exploding world population relating to the wellbeing of the air, water, earth, fl ora without the use of agricultural chemicals to overcome and fauna. those plants, insects and fungi that strive to take food The word 'polluted' used generally to infer from us. I believe that no one would argue with the contamination by excrement and this gave way to contention that lack of food might precipitate world 'pollution' describing any area where an existing conflict much quicker than lack of oil. Even so voices desirable thing was contaminated by another substance are raised against agricultural chemicals, and where a are necessary. ANO 20.21, 3.2, which sets the horizontal Australia with a nucleus of highly experienced pilots deemed to be undesirable. problem develops and an agricultural aircraft is known and vertical distances from occupied buildings to be skilled in low level operations should we need to defend It is easy to see a head of problems building up from to have been in the area, the aircraft is almost maintained when carrying out agricultural operations, our country against an aggressor. this for both the operator and the pilot, and they did. invariably suspected and blamed . was one case in point and, following protracted By better training you can overcome the problems Operationally, the industry is now presented with a Unfortunately aircraft are more conspicuous than representations by your Association, the Department faced by pilots in dealing with the more diverse work vast network of single wire earth return power lines ground-borne spraying equipment; and the agricultural amended the Order.