Incident Details
During a flight to his final destination, a pilot made an intermediate stop to take a break and refuel his airplane. He remained on the ground for approximately two hours. Before departing for the final leg, which was about 60 miles, the pilot chose not to refuel. He informed another pilot that he did not want to wait for the fuel attendant and that he had sufficient fuel for the flight.
After departing following nightfall, the pilot returned to the intermediate airport about one hour later. While on an extended final approach, approximately 1.3 miles from the uncontrolled airport, the aircraft struck a set of unmarked electrical wires strung between unlighted poles.
Investigation Findings
Investigators determined that there was no regulatory requirement for the electrical wires to be marked or for the power poles to be lighted. The runway that the pilot was aligning to land on did not have a Visual Approach Slope Indicator (VASI), although the opposite runway was equipped with one. Additionally, the pilot-activated runway lights at the intended final destination airport were not functioning at the time the aircraft would have arrived there.