The problem that prompts this rule making is the towers that pop up in
the middle of nowhere without warning. The ones that have killed people
have been erected by cellular or wind surveyors so far. They put them up
for a few days and they are gone. But a new ham or utility tower could
be just as deadly. What has killed a few spray pilots is that they scout
an area the are going to spray a few days in advance to make sure it's
clear of obstructions. Then they get up at dawn to go spray an area in
the dim light when the winds are calm. Then they find that there is a
tower at the end of their spray run and don't see it in time to avoid it
where there wasn't one a few days before.
It is a real problem but as usual the government has used a back hoe
where a garden spade would have done. Simply registering the location of
a tower accurately in a data base 30 days in advance of construction is
all that is needed.
A free cellphone app that just lets you stand in the spot the tower is
going to be built (or already exists in the case of preexisting towers)
entering the tower height, type (guyed, freestanding or monopole), your
contact email and a press the register button. You get a registration
number back and the tower gets mapped on a Google Earth overlay for
spray pilots to use in their planning. Problem over.
All the painting and lighting is just a waist of money. Just after dawn
the tower lights are going to go off and the natural lighting will be
bad enough or there will be just enough ground fog that a spray pilot
won't see it unless they know it's there regardless of how it's painted.
As far as I know all the deaths have been at dawn or dusk when the winds
are calm.
Bill Putney - WB6RFW
Chief Engineer
KPTZ - Port Townsend, WA
PP-SEL/A&P-IA
"...you know me to be a very smart man. Don't you think if I were wrong, I'd know
it?" -Sheldon Cooper
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