Two pilots in a seaplane encountered new wires across a familiar approach to a lake. When the wires ...

Attributes
ACN	1167003
Time
Date	201404
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	E20.Airport
State Reference	CA
Environment
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Seaplane or Amphibian
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Landing
Flight Plan	None
Person 1
Function	Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Commercial Maintenance Powerplant Maintenance Airframe
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 50 Flight Crew Total 14500 Flight Crew Type 400
Person 2
Function	Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Instrument
Experience	Flight Crew Total 4300 Flight Crew Type 4
Events
Anomaly	Inflight Event / Encounter Object
Miss Distance	Horizontal 0 Vertical 0

Narrative:

We were flying a [seaplane] in napa county; california into lake berryessa. We were practicing confined area landings at the north end of the lake that I had used many times before; as recent as two months prior. On our approach; that looked normal to me; as I had done many times before; suddenly wires appeared. [We] pulled up and added power. We cut the top wire with the prop. The aircraft flew normal; all controls worked normal. We then landed. To our amazement; only the prop had small nicks. I am a [certified] mechanic. I filed and dressed the nicks; determined the aircraft to airworthy and flew back to base. A few days later [the other pilot] returned to the area [and looked more closely] at the wires and poles. [Recently] a new pole [had been placed] on the top of the hill; the old pole is down the hill and half again shorter than the new pole. The old power lines were at or below the trees. The location of the new pole put the lines way above the trees. I feel that these new wires should be marked with balls [to make them more visible]. Also; in the future I [will perform] a more diligent search of the approach. I now know things can change! It has been a wake up call; as we were very lucky!

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Two pilots in a seaplane encountered new wires across a familiar approach to a lake. When the wires were seen; they initiated a climb but could not avoid hitting them. After a successful landing; they observed only minor nicks to the propeller blades. One pilot was a certified mechanic and dressed the nicks prior to returning to the airport of origin.

Narrative: We were flying a [seaplane] in Napa County; California into Lake Berryessa. We were practicing confined area landings at the north end of the lake that I had used many times before; as recent as two months prior. On our approach; that looked normal to me; as I had done many times before; suddenly wires appeared. [We] pulled up and added power. We cut the top wire with the prop. The aircraft flew normal; all controls worked normal. We then landed. To our amazement; only the prop had small nicks. I am a [certified] mechanic. I filed and dressed the nicks; determined the aircraft to airworthy and flew back to base. A few days later [the other pilot] returned to the area [and looked more closely] at the wires and poles. [Recently] a new pole [had been placed] on the top of the hill; the old pole is down the hill and half again shorter than the new pole. The old power lines were at or below the trees. The location of the new pole put the lines way above the trees. I feel that these new wires should be marked with balls [to make them more visible]. Also; in the future I [will perform] a more diligent search of the approach. I now know things can change! It has been a wake up call; as we were very lucky!

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.