Installing high line ball markers

Let'sgoflying!

Let'sgoflying!

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Feb 23, 2005
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west Texas
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Dave Taylor
Gee, I'd need a tether on that drill motor or I'd drop it on that truck below for sure!

 
Wow, that’s just nuts!

At first I thought he was being lifted by a cherry picker. But he just went up and up!

And he the way he had to lean forward and sideways from the edge of his platform — I was nervous!
 
We live in a hilly area, and I've watched the helicopters fly them up to the line. First time I ever saw it happen, I didn't have any idea what the helicopter was doing. I thought he was going to hit the wires. Then I saw the tiny figure sitting on a platform, just like in that video, pull out an orange ball and start attaching it. I was nervous watching from the ground. :)
 
My favorite quote about Gaston's came from my first year there when myself, Spike, his son Tommy, and Kimberly rode up in DaveS's King Air.

As we were coming back from a grocery store run, she noted what was on the power lines surrounding the river and exclaimed, "I guess it takes balls to fly into Gaston's"

@Greg Bockelman ... this is the same Kimberly who aerated the runway in her heals and gave the duck the better view when you shared a ride on your Cessna 195
 
“Don, we will triple your current salary to take this job”

Me:
Danny-DeVito-Nope.gif
 
Met a few of those guys last month. They do line repair and line pulling as well. Also do the tree trimming stuff. Talked to the pilot and said they’re always looking for new pilots but they’re on the road 8 mths out of the year. Don’t think I’ve got the attention span for that type of work anyway. :D

 
Here's another view of these guys
JAK_6176 by Jack Silver, on Flickr
JAK_6141 by Jack Silver, on Flickr


They sometimes will get quite high, though I suppose, after a certain AGL, the height to fall doesn't matter much anymore with respect to the final outcome.
JAK_6143 by Jack Silver, on Flickr
JAK_6169 by Jack Silver, on Flickr

Sometimes, they get out of those bosun's chairs too. They had 4 or 5 people on different poles and the helicopter moved them between poles
JAK_6160 by Jack Silver, on Flickr
 
Velocity173 said:
Met a few of those guys last month. They do line repair and line pulling as well. Also do the tree trimming stuff. Talked to the pilot and said they’re always looking for new pilots but they’re on the road 8 mths out of the year. Don’t think I’ve got the attention span for that type of work anyway.
Click to expand...
25 years ago I was in a bar with a guy who did exactly that job, looks like the same helo type, anyway he had just come off duty and was absolutely bouncing off the walls! Apparently the nervous system takes some unwinding after a few hours of that (pretty sure it wasn't drugs).
 

This video ramps up the pucker factor - at least for me. The repair man leaves the safety of the helicopter platform and crawls along the energized wires.

"Like a bird on a wire....."

-Skip
 
Looks like the best seat in the house. Not keen on the electricity part though. The whole time I was thinking...what a great jump platform!:cornut:
 
I'm thinking one of the hardest parts is keeping the legs partly extended for a good hook on the ball, while fighting rotor wash on the size of that ball. My gym routine doesn't even include those muscles.
 
Is this some kind of work release program for death row inmates? They get a chance for parole if they put enough of these balls on?
 
I think when I was younger and after going through air assault school and skydived, I MIGHT have been willing to give it a go. Now days, no freakin' way.
 
This is pretty trivial compared to some of the line maintenance that is done by helecopter, much of it live at voltages where first contact is with a special probe that draws an arc as it brings the helecopter to line voltage, and everyone is wearing special outfits that are 100% conductive faraday cages, socks with silver thread, etc. You see them changing the tuned dampers (a fairly similar job), the reinforcement bundles at the insulators, and even the spacers where multiple wires are bundled together to increase current, or increase corona voltage. There are crews where this is both a full time job and an emergency response job where you may hop a flight at any time to be there by sun up. Not something I would ever do at my age.
 
Someday drones will replace smooth hands...or not. ;)

 
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