[Scan-DC] Mystery Helicopter (N499SL)

[John Wilson]

1.  I remember seeing a tv documentary on this similar subject at least 
20 years ago.  The lineman sits in the open doorway of the helicopter as 
the pilot carefully maintains the required position in parallel to the 
the particular electrical line section where the lineman will work.  The 
lineman holds a fiberglass rod to touch the "hot" wire first and 
attaches a short length of some type of cable with a clamp to prevent 
completing an electrical path on the line before the lineman does 
whatever on hot line.

When finished, the lineman disconnects from the hot line and the 
helicopter and lineman go to the next section of electrical line to 
inspect.

Like everything else involving high odds of danger and possible death, 
and with frequent use, eventually the law of averages will occur.  The 
lineman is lucky he is a alive and the pilot is lucky he did not crash.  
A strong wind gust easily could cause a light helicopter also to make 
contact with a hot wire.

John


Blair Thompson via Scan-DC wrote:
>   Per Google, HLH Holdings is the owner. HLH stands for High Line Helicopters.
>
> This should shed more light on the matter:
>
> http://www.kathrynsreport.com/2018/11/hughes-369d-registered-to-hlh-holdings.html
>
> The commercial pilot of the helicopter reported that the purpose of the flight was to lift a utility company lineman to a structure to perform work in conjunction with a new powerline project. While transporting the lineman to the structure using a long line, the worker contacted an existing, live powerline and was seriously injured. The weather conditions at the time of the accident included 10 miles visibility and no precipitation. The pilot reported that he could not see the powerline from his perspective until it was too late to make a course change. The pilot recommended that better recognition of hazards and obstructions may have prevented the accident.
>
> I knew a guy who worked at OSHA who would have been interested in reading that report. He has moved on to another job.     On Thursday, April 9, 2020, 08:43:50 AM EDT, Eric C. Carlson <ecarlson at gmail.com> wrote:
>   
>   Given that the path exactly follows electricity transmission lines, I
> assume it's being used for inspection and maintenance of the lines.
> Helicopters are regularly used for this.
>
> -Eric
>
> On Thu, Apr 9, 2020 at 1:54 AM Alan Henney <alan at henney.com> wrote:
>
>> My thanks to those of you who replied to my previous post trying to
>> identify the tail number of another odd-ball aircraft.
>>
>> This helicopter flies regularly from Westminster but seems to "loiter" and
>> return later to Westminster.
>>
>> Any thoughts?
>>
>> https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N499SL/history/20200408/1221Z/KDMW/KDMW
>>
>> Thanks again,
>> Alan
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