That's one way to do it!....HOLY MACKEREL!

Well, I guess there's more than one way to "skin a cat", so to speak.

Here's a helicopter stringing a high voltage power line...



I don't know about anyone else, but I'd say I'm pretty surprised this helicopter can even get off the ground with a pilot who's nuts are as big as this guy's!!!

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

That is some absolutely astounding piloting.

Mind blowing work.

Transmission line work is some fascinating stuff.

Imagine strapping yourself into a Faraday suit for hot work.. No room for error in any of what they do.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Wow , that's incredible.
Hats off to the pilot for both his skill and insanity.

Yeah....No.
I don't know how much these guys make, but I hope it's a lot. You'd have to pay me a pretty penny to do this.

..............and people thought I was nuts for working in a dark hole in the ground.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Wow. That's all I can say

a reply to: DAVID64

Part of my job requires harness and climbing, I'm training new workers all the time, they quit after a while or ask to be transferred to another area. I might send your video to my bosses, thanks.

a reply to: DAVID64

That is a hell of a video.

a reply to: DAVID64

In Australia an average linesman should push 100 gs or better with overtime , pretty sure in the US it comparable , might be a bit less but conversion rates an all its the same . These guys would be on linies wages with allowances is my guess . Have not done this exact work myself but have been in the heli when it was decided its easier to push the crows nest of with the skids than report it , do paperwork , send a crew etc .

a reply to: rickymouse

That is a hell of a video.

Thats the easy bit , they can actually sleeve in new bits of conductor while sitting on the platform . Having done the transmission course and having worked on them i can say there is a lot of stuff the public has no idea about . And remember children , if your over 30 feet high and fall the result is most likely the same . 30 feet 300 feet , doesnt matter , climb the tower .

I built a canopy tour some years back and we used a helicopter to drop in the cables.. 1/2" a couple over a thousand feet.. the pilot would steady his machine over the tree 1000' up and move in a gentle back and forth motion and swing the bottom of the cable into the tree for the rigger to grab it by hand and clip it into the tree.. Then he would drop the other end of the cable to the next guy a thousand feet away without ripping the cable from the first tree... He did 9 cables that way, then dropped 12 half platforms into the trees using the same method... He did all this before 3:30..it was one of the most intense workdays I've ever had..

I got to take a flight around the area we were working in with him, outside of Ketchikan Alaska,and I asked him what was the most intense situation/work he had ever done.. He told me that he had been commissioned to drop mountain goats off in the mountains in New Zealand, over 10,000 feet, as part of a relocation project.. He told me he'd had nightmares of having to release the sheep in order to retain his ability to fly at that altitude.. He didn't lose any though..

Very interesting guy to meet and pick his brain.. it's a breed in itself, these kinds of pilots.

a reply to: Quauhtli

Flying a Hughes 500 wasn't he . Its the go to heli for all the work above .

a reply to: hutch622

Not really sure, it was similar to the one in the video.. I remember watching him fly sideways while literally hanging out of the window watching the other end of the work he was performing.. the machine was literally an extension of his body... it was pretty cool.

Max power, past the point of rejection Except... for that emergency disconnect switch. They make it sound simple, and to them it is. Helicopter flying is first about hovering, resisting drag from gravity, cables and loads. I worked for a time scrapping air units, Sikorskys lifting them from tops of buildings and landing them in parking lots. More how they do it.

a reply to: Quauhtli

I stand corrected , for stringing work a bigger chopper is used for the obvious reason . I never did actual work on power-lines out of a chopper , i was a navigator , but yes the machine is an extension . A pilot going for one of these jobs needs well in excess of one thousand hours just to get an interview .

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

That is very cool but seems very inefficient to me. Isn't there a better way to do that?

a reply to: intrptr

That is insane how they can thread that using a helicopter. Standing Ovation guys

a reply to: norhoc

Isn't there a better way to do that?

In almost all cases the answer is no .

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

I thought what I did was risky. These linesman have some nerves of steel.

a reply to: NarcolepticBuddha

I thought what I did was risky. These linesman have some nerves of steel.

First day of linesmans school we were fitted with harnesses and told to climb a tower and stay there to we were told to come down . Tends to weed out the ones that are no good at heights .

We all did something like this as part of our training .