Spacer Installation on 765,000 volt line

Energized service performed. Flying with one of the best, we make quick work of a span before my gopro gives out to bonding on and off of the wire.

[uzaiyaro]

Seems to be a lot of folks who might not know exactly how these guys aren’t burnt to a crisp. There’s a few things going on here that are critical to doing this job safely. And as you might have guessed, the zappy stick plays a huge part. Basically what they’re doing, is charging themselves to the same potential as the high tension lines. If this sounds positively insane (pardon the pun), you need to remember that electricity only fries you when it has somewhere to go, because exactly like water flowing from high to low pressure, electricity flows from high to low voltage. It wants to find the easiest path to ground (or neutral, so going back to where it came from), which is not being provided. Water wants to find the easiest way to a lower pressure, it's the same thing. This is so much the case that the Chinese sometimes call voltage electrical pressure.

Incidentally, this is also how the safety circuit breakers (RCD or RCBO) work. When everything is happy, the amount of power coming in on the live pin is identical to the amount going back out on the neutral pin, thus completing the circuit, all the way from the generator at the power station, to you and your appliance through live, and all the way back to the generator, on neutral. The RCD monitors these, and it is looking at the current going to ground. Many devices have a little bit of leakage to ground, and its not really an issue. Your RCD will tolerate a certain amount of ground leakage, typically 30mA, but above this, it will trip. So if it detects a large amount of imbalance or conduction to ground, then it trips. This could be, for example, you drop a hair dryer in a bathtub. That hair dryer has a ground pin on it. The ground pin in any device *will only conduct in the case of a fault.* If something blows up, ideally that energy will be conducted to ground and dissipated. Your RCD will detect this and trip in a matter of milliseconds, which could save your life.

Think about lightning striking a tall building. It does this because that building has a lightning conductor running through it, to earth. The engineers deliberately design the building so that it attracts lightning to this specific conductor, and not somewhere else that can cause major damage. If you've ever wondered what those very thin wires atop these power lines are, they are called static lines. They provide a direct path to ground so lightning prefers these, instead of the HT wires.

Because there is physically nowhere else for the electricity to go, there’s no potential difference, so there’s no problem. The electricity just harmlessly flows around them. The zappy stick is a safe way to bring yourselves up to the same potential in a controlled way. Once contact is made, the clamp is applied to the line to make sure connection is not lost. There’s two paths for electricity to flow, and neither of them are to ground. Basically it’s a really, really cool faraday cage without the cage.

Also, those four conductors are carrying the same phase, so there’s no problem here, either. The other phases are on the other lines on that pole, so essentially, all four conductors he’s dealing with here, are carrying the exact same thing. So, again, there’s nowhere for the electricity to go. The braces are metal with a rubber gasket, and that gasket is purely there to stop chafing. It's like having two wires connecting from one place to another place. Even though they are touching, they are carrying the exact same thing, so nothing happens. What *will* happen, is that those two wires will share the load, so this is actually a good thing in many cases. No short circuit can happen here because there's no difference in potential; same voltage, same phase, same circuit, same everything.

By far the most dangerous thing here, is the helicopter being so close to the lines. A tiny gust of wind, will send it crashing into the lines, and those guys to their deaths.

Hope this clears a few things up. I'm not a sparky yet, but I am interested in learning for a potential career. Maybe. If I got anything wrong, please do kindly correct me!

Edit: I have since learned that the neutral doesn’t go all the way back to the power station. Which would explain why a single three phase high voltage circuit has three wires, not four. The neutral is more or less a product of the transformer serving either you, or your neighbourhood.

[dolphinchair]

Shoutout to the people who put their lives on the line so that we can keep watching YouTube

[nmz]

That helicopter pilot is BEYOND INCREDIBLE. What a team.

[PERTEKofficial]

Am an electrician but I couldn’t imagine sticking a wand out and watching an arc like that get drawn, and then go “yup, time to work on this”. Huge respect for this line of work.

[NstalgicLeaf]

Incredible. These invisible people keep our lights on 24x7. It's sweat, ingenuity and indomitable spirit. Nothing but respect for these highly skilled laborers.

[carloscabrera]

I'm more impressed by the helicopter pilot. DO YOU KNOW HOW GOOD YOU HAVE TO BE TO HOVER THAT CLOSE TO POWER LINES.

[m.a.]

Mad respect to the guy doing this, and also to the pilot getting extremely close to something which would easily be able to kill them both if he fucked up

[emmepiemme]

I have worked many years as a telecommunication technician, often climbing very high pylons that swayed with the wind so I have no fear of heights, but believe me: This is really at the top level. I take my hat off in front of these specialists !

[kevinberniebarron]

My Dad worked for the old Kansas City Power and Light (K.C.P&L.) for 36 years. (He's been gone for 22 years), but he worked as a Lead lineman splicer. He did not work from a helicopter, but worked on extremely high voltage lines!
In my opinion, he was one of those "invisible" heroes!
Nothing but total respect!
God bless all of them!

[Loehlenco]

And his GoPro came back fully charged.

[copkhan]

Hats off to the Pilot for keeping it steady and the installer for making it all look easy. Truly the unsung heroes. Keep up the good work and stay safe.

[jaygreentree]

Just the sound of the energy running through the lines makes me appreciate these people. Ya'll are crazy af.

[KevinGannon]

I dropped a screw, can we land and look for it??

[keaganbarnes]

Now this is something I wouldn’t mind paying for with my taxes

[PBandJsandwich]

I'm amazed that a helicopter can lift a man with balls that big.

[brettmorton]

Oh that's an intense job... Amazing skills right there. I remember when I got my helicopter licence, being told "stay away from wires" "wires are helicopters' natural enemy" these guys literally fly in the face of that safety advice... I am suitably impressed 👍🏼👍🏼

[SalesTaxin]

Exceptional piloting.. the fact it takes him seconds to get into position is unreal well done.

[christianparadigms]

That IS SOMETHING I HAVE A LOT OF RESPECT FOR IN SOMEONES WORK! The Pilot of that Helicopter has 100's of hours in Practice hovering, BEFORE considering doing that. "BONDING" with High Voltage like that is Crazy!

[adamspivey]

I don't care how much he's making, THIS man needs a raise!!

[JediSentinal]

The coordination of the heli pilot and the operater is so cool to see! Obviously both very experienced and likely worked together many times, based in how the pilot dropped the heli down in just the right way at the right time.