I live in South Carolina, where we have a lot of pine trees. And they like to grow right beside power lines and train tracks. You obviously don’t want tree limbs engulfing your power lines or getting hit by trains, so you need to trim them.
Your first option is a ground crew. A bunch of guys, a couple bucket trucks, some chainsaws… and now you have a way of keeping those limbs at bay. But it’s a very inefficient, expensive, slow, and dangerous method: you have to pay all those guys, fuel all those trucks, and teach everyone how to not get electrocuted (or hit by a train).
After all, ground crews are… grounded. Electricity is always seeking ground. You know what’s in the opposite direction of the ground? A helicopter with a big fucking saw dangling from it.
Problem solved. Yeah you’ve still got to pay for gas and someone to fly the damn thing, but that’s a whole lot better than a ground crew. In fact, your saw is bigger than your ground crew.
Not only is this faster, but now you can trim in more remote areas too. Can’t drive a bucket truck up that narrow mountain road? No worries. Attack it from above. Power lines and railroad tracks are already marked on aviation section maps, and they’re easy to spot from above.
Every aerial saw pilot I’ve ever met has been one insanely cool person, and I love spotting these big saws in the air from time to time. All hail the flying saw, guardian of rural electric grids.
jbbartram-illu
tangentwithtanner
dededos
areudirty
