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GA pilot reported aircraft contacted a power line during descent into airport at night.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1576173 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201809 |
| Local Time Of Day | 0001-0600 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | ZZZ.Airport |
| State Reference | US |
| Environment | |
| Flight Conditions | VMC |
| Light | Night |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | RV-7 |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 91 |
| Flight Phase | Landing |
| Route In Use | Visual Approach Direct |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Single Pilot |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) |
| Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 65 Flight Crew Total 11520 Flight Crew Type 457 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT Inflight Event / Encounter Object |
Narrative:
I took off [early morning] to fly airplane to ZZZ for its condition inspection. Cruise altitude [was] 8;500 feet. I began my descent 30 miles from ZZZ. At 20 miles out on unicom frequency; I began to attempt to activate the pilot controlled lights using my microphone button. The lights did not come on. I continued to try to turn on the runway lights with no success. The airfield lights never came on. In attempting to acquire the airfield visually; I kept my descent rate at 500 fpm. At approximately 1/2 mile from the field and approximately 150 feet AGL; I struck a power line. My propeller sliced through the line. I initiated a go-around and climbed to 1;000 feet AGL. I did a control check to determine that I still had a flyable airplane. At this time; I visually acquired the airport and made a landing on runway 32. After landing the airplane; I taxied to transient parking and exited the airplane. I then contacted the police and fire department to notify them of a possible downed power line. The lights not coming on made the airport extremely difficult to find. There was no NOTAM indicating the lights were inoperative. This was certainly a contributing factor to the incident; but I never should have descended so low without the airport in sight. I had been into ZZZ airport many times; and was overly sure of my situational awareness.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: GA pilot reported aircraft contacted a power line during descent into airport at night.
Narrative: I took off [early morning] to fly airplane to ZZZ for its condition inspection. Cruise altitude [was] 8;500 feet. I began my descent 30 miles from ZZZ. At 20 miles out on UNICOM frequency; I began to attempt to activate the pilot controlled lights using my microphone button. The lights did not come on. I continued to try to turn on the runway lights with no success. The airfield lights never came on. In attempting to acquire the airfield visually; I kept my descent rate at 500 fpm. At approximately 1/2 mile from the field and approximately 150 feet AGL; I struck a power line. My propeller sliced through the line. I initiated a go-around and climbed to 1;000 feet AGL. I did a control check to determine that I still had a flyable airplane. At this time; I visually acquired the airport and made a landing on Runway 32. After landing the airplane; I taxied to Transient Parking and exited the airplane. I then contacted the police and fire department to notify them of a possible downed power line. The lights not coming on made the airport extremely difficult to find. There was no NOTAM indicating the lights were inoperative. This was certainly a contributing factor to the incident; but I never should have descended so low without the airport in sight. I had been into ZZZ airport many times; and was overly sure of my situational awareness.
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.