Drone Stuck In Powerlines at Train Station.
- Thread starter Drone Master
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According to the news, They could not get it down for an hour or so. They finally had to get a boom truck and take it down by hand.
Amazing that it wasn't shorting out from the water blast. Looks like it was stuck by the gimbal.
Amazing that it wasn't shorting out from the water blast. Looks like it was stuck by the gimbal.
One of the dangers of night flying - power lines are invisible in the dark.
This happened here in Seattle last year with an Inspire, but it was hung up 150 feet above Lake Union (over water). It cost the power company $35,000 to remove it using a crane on a barge. Not sure if they ever found the owner so they could hold him financially responsible.
This happened here in Seattle last year with an Inspire, but it was hung up 150 feet above Lake Union (over water). It cost the power company $35,000 to remove it using a crane on a barge. Not sure if they ever found the owner so they could hold him financially responsible.
It's those guys with the black drones that give us other guys a bad rap.
<snort>
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The shorting is a bit of a myth, like peeing on an electric fence. The water droplets are too far apart to cause a short. In air, every 1000v can only jump 1mm, so if you have 1000 droplets, spread out between the wires, and 1mm between them, it will take 1,000,000v for it to flash over. Mind you, I haven't tried the electric fence, but they are limited to 5kv and 10 joules of energy. However, if it happened, it would surely change your point of view.
Crazy as it seems, Myth Busters actually tried that! Actually they used an artificial 'urinary treack', but they did confirm that the stream starts to break up almost immediately causing exactly the condition Peter described. Even in the daytime, keeping proper perspective on the position of a bird and obstacles like tree branches and power lines can be difficult. I'd like to see the video from the bird, wonder if the pilot flew directly into the wires or lost SA and hit one while maneuvering? Someone earlier mentioned that it might be a fly away, but in any case, looks like an area where flying at night probably wasn't the smartest thing to do.
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I've seen them use water to wash the insulators on the high tension lines. More fun is to watch the guy who wears the mesh suit get dropped onto the line from a helicopter and the blue flash or arc that goes from the line to his gloved hand when he first hooks onto the 40KV line to crawl around on it.
My electrician works doing that mesh suit stuff and I think he's nuts. He said the power company hires him out as they don't have anyone who wants to do it. In LA they will have a second helicopter as backup to the one who drops the guy onto the lines. Interesting to watch them work. He says that static you hear on the radio is some arcing buildup that forms like little volcanoes on top of the lines and he has to scrub it off by hand if it can't be hosed off. Some people's jobs they can have.
My electrician works doing that mesh suit stuff and I think he's nuts. He said the power company hires him out as they don't have anyone who wants to do it. In LA they will have a second helicopter as backup to the one who drops the guy onto the lines. Interesting to watch them work. He says that static you hear on the radio is some arcing buildup that forms like little volcanoes on top of the lines and he has to scrub it off by hand if it can't be hosed off. Some people's jobs they can have.
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