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Aircraft Striking Radio/TV Towers

necrat123 said:
There have been a lot of them actually.
Recently, ones which come to mind...

There was one in Quebec. The plane became entangled in the top portion of the tower. The plane and pilot's body were trapped up at the 700 foot level of the tower before it was razed.

A black hawk helicopter hit the KXXV tower in Kileeen, TX , destroyed the helicopter, killed seven on board.

More recent was the plane which hit the WFXL tower near Albany, GA. (This was the famous video of the tower coming down that ended up taking the next door tower of WALB down).
Click to expand...

One of the more famous ones was a F4 (iirc) Phantom Navy jet riding up the guywire and slamming into the Hill CH 8 tower in Cedar Hill (DFW), TX....the tower was owned by WFAA and had 8, 4 (which was CBS at the time I think) and K104 on it..the jet rammed into the torque bracket at the 1100 ft level, ripped the wing off and the jet barrel rolled as it started down across the road...the pilot (and co pilot I think) ejected safely...the Navy at 1st denied the incident...until part of the wing with the insignia was brought down from the tower....The US Govt basically bought WFAA a new 1500ft tower and the old tower was shortened below the damage (about 1000ft or so now)..it now has WFAA and KDFW's aux transmitters as well as aux FMs for K104, KDMX, 100.3, 105.3 and another CBS FM..

(turns out the pilot was hot dogging and came out of the clouds headed for the now closed Dallas Naval Air Station...and found himself a little LOW!!! As he pulled up, he literally rode the guy wire up to the tower......They said the tower "shook/hummed" for over 30 mins after the strike and with the old candelabra on it, its amazing it didnt fall!)
 
The second tallest tower in the world was taken down by a military jet. That was the original 2060 foot tower of KXJB-TV Fargo. The tower is near Galesburg, ND. The tower that was built to replace it, which was also 2060 feet, collapsed due to icing in the late 90s as I remember. They are on their third tower now, which is the same height and remains the second tallest tower in the world, and it is a much more hefty structure.
 
I've a better question than why a short tower (under 200') isn't lighted:

What in the HELL is someone doing aviating aroubnd less than 200' off the ground, in a congested area? Or, what's an ag operator doing that close to a tower???
 
littlejohn...

In the case of IFR type conditions(Instrument flight rules) When theres real bad weather/ atmospheric conditions like wind shear... yes, I can see it happening... But as witnessed here on the board, alot of these strikes has been people hot dogging around towers and paying for it with their lives (That story on the F4 hitting that 2000' tower was unbeleivable.. damn I'd love to see video of that happening..)
And striking a tower that reaches 2000' into the sky I could understand... but like you say, anything under 200' being struck is pretty hard to see happening. Helicopters I can see as more likely, but aircraft, no way...
 
I used to take care of a 4-tower AM array, with 199-foot towers. There was no lighting requirement, even though there was a muni airport about a mile away. The tower site was tucked between a couple of bluffs, and the airport was on top of a small hill, so that the tops of the towers were actually below the runway elevation.

I used to get calls from neighbors complaining that "the lights on them towers is burnt out" and several planes coming in for a landing had almost hit them. Any airplane flying close enough to clip one of those towers was already seconds away from flying into terrain.
 
So is this what Maverick really meant by "buzzing the tower"? ;D

Sorry, I couldn't resist. :)

R
 
Well, it seems this board has established that a great many of these incidents were due to pilot error/inattention and or other problems. No broadcaster wants to present a hazard to air navigation, but a tower is part of our existence. To
reiterate, the existing regulations are reasonable as to lighting, etc....for those
aviators who are willing to reciprocate! Thanks JBI
 
Here in Florida, one of the biggest problems is an unpainted tall tower on a very hazy day. GPS systems in aircraft now tell us where the towers are and that sure helps, but you have to be right on top of them before you see them. Strobes dont help on hazy days. Painted towers are much easier to see, especially on hazy days
 
very good point.. most tower/aircraft strikes seem due to pilot error.. Maybe not so much error as much as pulling margins down, pilots throwing safety levels to bare minimums...

Sucks, I have most respect for our aviators.. I have a private (75 hours so I'm a weak pilot) I understand, but won't fly outside my envelope....

Tower strikes happen, fly safe, review your air charts.....!!!
 
The nighttime site of 1190 Dallas has been mistaken for a landing strip; two rows of six towers. At one time, maybe even today, a large "X" was painted between the towers to warn pilots.
 
Habu said:
littlejohn...

In the case of IFR type conditions(Instrument flight rules) When theres real bad weather/ atmospheric conditions like wind shear... yes, I can see it happening... But as witnessed here on the board, alot of these strikes has been people hot dogging around towers and paying for it with their lives (That story on the F4 hitting that 2000' tower was unbeleivable.. damn I'd love to see video of that happening..)
And striking a tower that reaches 2000' into the sky I could understand... but like you say, anything under 200' being struck is pretty hard to see happening. Helicopters I can see as more likely, but aircraft, no way...
Click to expand...

The old DFW "Hill" tower at ~1500 at the time, not 2000ft....it was the same design as the old 1400ft KRPC TV tower in Houston (which has the candelabra on the tower)...which is the only one left standing in original design today out of 9 built..(damn I cannot remember the name right now!)....
Aircraft normally have to stay above a certain height except when landing and taking off....being under 200 ft is a nono in metro areas...but remember weedhoppers and ultralights will be that low...(of course anyone flight something like that at night or in fog is crazy to begin with!)
 
radiorob2.0 said:
The nighttime site of 1190 Dallas has been mistaken for a landing strip; two rows of six towers. At one time, maybe even today, a large "X" was painted between the towers to warn pilots.
Click to expand...

Not since 2000 and maybe earlier anyway....and iirc the 4 end towers are the only ones lit now...they dont have to light all 12....
 
Re:

One blatant example of an Aircraft Striking Radio/TV Towers is the 9-11 terrorist attack. The impact to broadcasting was mostly overlooked. 6 engineers lost their lives, and OTA TV was severely disrupted for NYC, and still isnt as good as it was from the WTC mast. The attack also made many stations rethink about their "backup" plans. Many of the TV stations in the WTC had "Aux" transmitters on the same mast/building. Of course nobody expected the towers to ever fall, but now engineers know the importance of offsite backup and planning for the unthinkable.
 
OK I'm going to tred trouble here and ask this question. With all due respect to all of those people who suffered deeply and tragically, can we really count the 9/11 incident as an actual "airplane radio tower strike" in the sense of the word? Yes, I am aware antennas were mounted on the roof at the former WTC (so glad Fybush still has pictures of those setups), but the planes technically struck the buildings, not the actual radio towers.

This little technicality question will probably come back to haunt me, no doubt.

R
 
Robert,

You bring up a very good point. Technically, the aircraft didn't strike the antenna, and the examples of antennas mounted on skyscrapers are limited (Probably less than 100 examples-of am/fm) But the outcome did destroy the antenna... so I think this qualifies as well... Since this is probably a once in a 50 year type incident, I think it needs to be counted....
Although this was a deliberate act, it still is an example of how devastating any tower strike usually is, seems like from this board, if an aircraft hits a tower, the tower is probably going to collapse at least 50% of the time.

A back up tower/antenna seems like a pretty good idea, if you can find a good place to mount one. Obviously there is the cost involved, but redundancy is always a great thing. FM is a lot easier to stick someplace than AM, but it still is worth it in the long term if you're in a susceptible area. Well, my 2 cents anyway...
 
Robert, even without worrying about motivation, the airplane knocked the thing down and toiok the stations off the air. I had occasion shortly thereafter that morning to visit one of my sites, on the Westin hotel ibn downtown Atlanta. And all the time I was up there, I was thinking, some character is aimed at the Georgia State Capital, and his instruictions were, "Abdullah, if you don't see the gold dome in time, just aim fo rthe big round building, it's right in the center of town!" Uncomfortable feeling.
 
littlejohn said:
And all the time I was up there, I was thinking, some character is aimed at the Georgia State Capital, and his instruictions were, "Abdullah, if you don't see the gold dome in time, just aim fo rthe big round building, it's right in the center of town!" Uncomfortable feeling.
Click to expand...

No kidding! :eek:

Does Nyquil have a remedy for this? ;D

R
 
ChiefEngineer said:
Planes are flown by professionals. Except fighter planes. Mainly 20 year old boys who mainly want to go real fast.
Click to expand...


And risk thier lives for their country. That was a cheap shot, not to mention by and large untrue.
 
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