The International Cessna^® 170 Association

When I was building my hangar, my daughter's friend, known as "T. J." was helping me weld up the purlins which interconnected the rafters. He was standing-upright, walking up an unsupported rafter which was made of 4-inch wide flanged-beam, about 25 feet above the concrete slab. He had no safety-harness and the care-free manner in which he monkeyed about up there was scarey to watch. There was a dark cloud overhead and a lightning-bolt blasted down and struck nearby with a deafening "CR-RACK!" .... and all of us safely on the ground shrank away from the sound... but TeeJay just continued unabated.

"Goddammit TeeJay! Aren't you worried about getting kilt up there?", someone shouted.

TeeJay never missed a beat and calmly replied, "Nuthin' scares me but atom-bombs, snakes, and fertile women." He continued calmly climbing to the apex of the building.

This fellow says he's only afraid of three things. Electricity, heights, and women.

http://theviperr.com/8n/high_power_worker.wmv

gahorn wrote:This fellow says he's only afraid of three things. Electricity, heights, and women.
http://theviperr.com/8n/high_power_worker.wmv

I've seen this before. I totally understand the physics of why this can be done safely, but I'd have to be awful hungry to do it myself. ? The height thing more than the electricity. He said he was married, but was the helicopter pilot a woman?

gahorn wrote:TeeJay never missed a beat and calmly replied, "Nuthin' scares me but atom-bombs, snakes, and fertile women."

This was your daughter's friend? Are you a grandfather?

Miles

Not sure I'd want to do that kind of flying for a living as hovering in one place for more than 10 or 15 minutes can get pretty boring. I know to well as the longest I hovered in one place while flying a news helicopter was 6 hours with on 15 minute refueling break.

But I'd like the chance to fly power line repair for a few days just so I could say "yes I've done that, it was no big deal".

N9149A wrote:...But I'd like the chance to fly power line repair for a few days just so I could say "yes I've done that, it was no big deal".

No big deal if you aren't the one with a lightning rod in your hand...

Miles

cessna170bdriver wrote: No big deal if you aren't the one with a lightning rod in your hand...

Miles

You missed the point he made that he as well as the helicopter are bonded to the power line.

N9149A wrote:

cessna170bdriver wrote: No big deal if you aren't the one with a lightning rod in your hand...

Miles

You missed the point he made that he as well as the helicopter are bonded to the power line.

I didn't miss that point at all. If you walk across nylon carpet on a dry day while firmly holding hands with another person, only the one that reaches for the doorknob will feel the shock. If the guy outside the helicopter drops the rod before installng the bonding strap, then he's essentially "reaching for the doorknob". As long as the pilot is bonded to the helicopter in some fashion, he's the one "holding hands" and won't feel the shock. Also, the helicopter itself is a Faraday cage (if it's skinned in metal), which serves as an extra layer of protection for the pilot. (I wonder if the pilot wears the Faraday suits too, or is otherwise positively bonded to the helicopter )

To me though, none of that would be as scary as shinnying up those wires, regardless of the fall protection.

Miles

Miles

To me though, none of that would be as scary as shinnying up those wires, regardless of the fall protection.

Miles

Agreed. Who would ever climb out of a perfectly good helicopter!

I would think it better to get out before one of the opposing forces quits and the earth no longer repels it.

Agreed. Who would ever climb out of a perfectly good helicopter!

That is, assuming there is such a thing as a "perfectly good" helicopter.

cessna170bdriver wrote:... (I wonder if the pilot ... is otherwise positively bonded to the helicopter ) Miles

Miles has discovered another oxymoron. No real pilot could ever bond positively with a helicopter!

Occasionally I get a mischievious streak. I used the "doorknob" trick on my wife. We had just installed a relatively low power electric fence around our garden, 3 hot wires to keep the goats outs. Well, it wasn't quite hot enough to do the job, and I and Tina could touch the fence which had an uncomfortable jolt. I then added 3 ground wires between the hot ones for a 6 wire fence. I ask Tina to hold the ground wire (after I demontrated it was safe), which she bravely did. I grabbed her hand and then a hot wire. The jolt was significant, but the slap I recieved afterwards was most memorable

The picture of the helicopter and the power line reminded me of an incident many years ago. I was flying a super cub on buried telehone cable patrol.Up near Redding,CA, I saw a helicopter hovering very close to, and facing, a big high line tower along the route. "What the heck is he doing so close to the tower?" I thought.
Suddenly a big jet of water squirted out of the front of the chopper and flooded one of the big four foot long insulators on the tower. What in hell?
At a later consulation with a power company employee, I was told they were washing dirt off of the isulators to perclude possible flashover due to contamination.

You guys are talking about static electricity and high voltage......still what scares me the most is the fertile (or not) woman....Brad

At least this kind of hovering is worth the effort and the rewards are quenching.

Joe
4518C

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fw2wviQAXYw

Do that with a 170 The victory lap was a nice touch.

Wonder it the bottle opener ducktape installation is STC'd or just field approved. And just for the fun of it was this even a flight for which any approval of a modification would be required?

I've just realized I've got to much time on my hands that I have even thought of the above discussion topics.