A flight that went down to the wire

AIRCDRE David Pietsch and Sabre. Photo by LAC Greg Pierce

By LAC Greg Pierce

AT the Force Element Group Commanders conference last month Air Commodore David Pietsch was reunited with his old mount.

Sabre A94-962 is now a museum piece at the RAAF Base Amberley preservation flight.
The reunion took place after an F-111 familiarisation flight in which AIRCDRE Pietsch showed that he wasn’t yet a museum piece himself.

As for the Sabre, it required restoration after its final flight in 1971, with then Pilot Officer Pietsch at the controls. On a two-ship navigation exercise he was fortunate to survive flying through power lines.

The incident occurred during a navigation exercise from Amberley. AIRCDRE Pietsch was leading the 5OTU flight over a ridge near Binna Burra Lodge to the south of the base when he hit two out of the three wires at 420 knots.

One wire struck the air intake, tearing about half a metre into either side of the fuselage before it snapped.
The second cable struck the bottom of the windshield and slid upwards until it hit the teardrop canopy. The canopy disintegrated and the wire shaved the top off AIRCDRE Pietsch’s helmet before snapping on the tail of the aircraft.

Fortunately the second aircraft in the flight missed the wires completely, possibly by flying under them.

Initially AIRCDRE Pietsch did not realise what had happened.

Suddenly finding himself in an open cockpit he reduced his airspeed. A visual inspection by his wingman told of the damage to the air intake and tail.

There was concern about debris ingestion but the engine held out for the 20 minutes it took to nurse the aircraft back to Amberley. Inbound to Amberley the external drop tanks were jettisoned to reduce the overall weight for what became an uneventful landing.

More pieces of the puzzle were supplied by the operator of the Binna Burra Lodge. He rang the base in an unhappy state to ask about the sudden loss of his power supply.

Patches have been placed over the scars of A94-962.

Although the canopy has been replaced the damage is still clearly visible on the windshield and the tail.

The structural damage means that the aircraft will never fly again.

As for the pilot, AIRCDRE Pietsch has gone on to be one of the few who has flown Sabres, Mirages and Hornets. He is now Commander Surveillance and Control Group, RAAF Base Williamtown.

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