The accident of a Polish Police Black Hawk helicopter that cut a power line

@DefAviation ES 8·21·2023 · 19:55 0

One of the greatest enemies of helicopters, due to the fact that they fly frequently at low altitude, are the cables of electrical lines.

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To avoid accidents in the event of collisions with these cables, many helicopters have had cable cutters for decades on the front of their fuselage. But what happens when the collision occurs with the blades of the helicopter? This is a very dangerous situation in which the helicopter can become entangled in power lines and crash.

This Sunday afternoon, August 20, one of the three PZL Mielec S-70i Black Hawk helicopters of the Polish Police, a version of the famous Sikorsky UH-60 helicopter made under license in Poland, was flying low near Ciechanów, in Masovian Voivodeship, on the occasion of a popular meeting to celebrate the 103rd anniversary of the Battle of Sarnową Górą. Apparently, the pilot did not notice the proximity of a high-voltage power line and ended up cutting one of the cables with the main rotor, as we can see in this video broadcast by the Polish radio station RMF FM:

According to RMF FM, "the services reacted immediately. For a moment the screams of children and adults were heard. Police and firefighters quickly ordered us to leave the field, from where the broken line was". We can see some screenshots of the video here. Here we see how the Black Hawk approaches the power lines:

In this capture we see the precise moment in which one of the blades of the main rotor of the S-70i cuts the electric cable.

In this image, the electrical cable is slack after being cut.

Below these lines, the electric cable flies to both sides and the S-70i begins to ascend, a sign that the pilot already realized what was happening.

Here we see the S-70i increasing its angle of climb. In the video you can see that there were more power lines nearby. The situation could end in a disaster.