"There’s only three things I’ve ever been afraid of: electricity, heights, and women." – Thanks özi!
Update 1/15/09 by Alex: Let’s do this instead – a thumbnail with a link to the video clip. It’s a fascinating excerpt from the IMAX movie Straight Up: Helicopters in Action
pfelelep
Words fails me.
except OMFG, words really fails me 0_o
Thaddeus
This is from an IMAX movie: Straight Up: Helicopters in Action. It's narrated by Martin Sheen! I highly recommend it.
Dereks
Well, it's cool, but is it so necessary to use helicopter to get to the cables? Isn't there any equipment to climb towers? I'm sure it would be much cheaper...
Lew A
This was absolutely awesome. thanks!
Lew
John Wright
Wow, truly fascinating.
Babu M
Well.. you can't use a ladder or climb up from bottom in most cases. Because as you can see in video, these lines pass through dense forests, or some cases over water. Helicopter is much cheaper to access these places than driving there and setting up ground to climb up.
aaron
@Dereks--I agree that it appears as though helicopters are a really expensive way to maintain lines, but the fact of the manner is some lines are so remote that you cant even get to the towers in order to climb them. Add mountains to the equation, and you;ll find that sometimes the only way to get to those lines is from a chopper.
Great video, thanks!
RabiChowder
@Babu M...it's not only the cost...they can't use a ladder as they would then become grounded...
Jarrod
@Derek: I think they have to use helicopters because any ground-based apparatus would ground the electrical circuit, and be disastrous.
CS
You guys don't understand electricity. The helicopter allows him to be put on the line while totally isolated from ground. The small discharge just prior to him getting on and off the helicopter are to bridge and make equivalent the helicopter's potential (rather small in the grand scheme of things) with the lines. This is the reason for his using that bar prior to getting on and off the thing. Compared this vs the lines' enormous potential relative to absolute ground (the earth) and you get the idea: he couldn't get on the line at all if he had to do it from the tower without being vaporized by the electriciy. The important point of the whole operation is to not be the bridge between the line and the earth. Hence the chopper.
It's impressive to see how just how high the voltages are on the line that they arc to the helicopter for that long, esp. given the helicopter's relatively small size.
Maria
This is copyrighted footage from the IMAX movie "Straight Up." The movie is great and I highly recommend it. But I do question this site's use of the footage here, as it's clearly copyright violation. Some of us take that pretty seriously.
Morris Weinberg
Maybe one day the electricity or the hieght will save him from the woman...
Rocky Rook
Wow! I hope he gets paid a LOT of money.
23
There was a UK Channel 5 show that aired 16/10/2008 iirc ;o) where they showed these crazy helicopter dudes actually WASHING the power lines!
sch
@Maria: I would say this qualifies as fair use, and at that, it even makes me want to see the full version.
Doback
Maria, thnx that makes me want to go and download that now. If only to know that some people are taking it very seriously.
Excellent footage.
Dr Z
What I can't figure out is; how does he keep from rolling off that helicopter platform when he's sitting on a set of massive stainless-steel balls?
Bill
@sch - don't want to get into a pissing match, but "fair use" is a legal defense against copyright infringement = by claiming fair use in a court of law you are acknowledging that you have infringed, but you're saying it should be allowed. There are certain specific cases when you MAY BE ABLE to use copyrighted material without permission (criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship or research). I don't think this qualifies.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use
(Great clip though! Does make me want to watch the rest of the movie.)
Axe
I believe it's educational so why not?
Dan Butterman Esq.
I know this won't be a popular post, but fair use shouldn't exceed 1 minute. Also you can't use the educational argument, as dailymotion is not a school. It took the IMAX people a lot of money to film this. They had to pay for the helicopter, the microphones, the camera, the salaries of the crew and probably had to buy insurance to be near the lines.
And you all just steal it.
Butt Dan Butterman
Dan, this 3 min clip out of a 30-60 minute movie does nothing but enhance it's value by providing advertisement for it. Most that see this will be seeing it for the first time and will now want to see the whole movie that previously was unknown. I would hardly call this "stealing" it and I am pretty rigid with copyright infringement as well. The laws just haven't caught up with the digital age yet. If it was a lot more of the movie, then I would have an issue.
The Slapster
Or alternately, everybody bitching about it could share nice, large cup of STFU and move on.
santoo
salary for Repairing High-Voltage Cables from a Helicopter??
Chuck M
I will go see the IMAX film now because of this clip, so if the producers really want to bitch about copyright, remember this illegal clip got you at least $12 bucks.
As for using ladders, have you ever seen what happens when a guy working from a bucket truck loses his isolation from the ground? It's a body deep-fry. The only way to do this type of maintenance efficently is via chopper. The lines are too powerful, too high up, and too remote to be done from the ground. It would cost at least twice as much to do the same operation from the ground. The cost is not as much as you might think. They lease the helicopter and train their own technician. The only non-fixed costs are fuel.
Cole
Thats my dream job, how do i Sign up?
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