No joking around here, this set of powerlines cross the the Snake River a few miles below the Palisades dam. I am making it my personal mission to bitch and moan until these are either marked better (by the "your balls saved my life" people) and/or noted on the SLC sectional as a hazard to naviagation. They are currently marked, by one or two small balls, that seem to have slipped off to the sides. It really seems like a piss poor job of marking, especially, for the height of the wires and the location (in the center of a valley, pretty much where someone would be flying).

I have seen several other lines, actually maybe the same lines, a few miles away that have much bigger balls and more of them, on lines that are much lower and in areas (leading into a short dead end canyon) that no plane would have a reason to be flying. These are right in the frigging road for a sightseeing pilot or one flying below scud and following the river. Sure the ball thing costs money, but a notation on the chart is pretty simple and it might save a life and a big powerline repair bill. I also like the idea of the FAA doing something constructive, this is a good chance. I know they are all on hiatus, (and that's why I havn't flown for a few days ) but when they get back to work, what is the most direct and straightforward way to push this forward? I have the lat/long on file.

I would start with the power company. Our local electric co-op has been more than helpful with marking lines with balls. North end of our 36 strip was marked over 10 years ago for free. Last year we took out trees off the end of 09 & they had balls up before the logging company had all the wood out, without asking us. I thanked them for taking care of it & asked if they had any OLD yellow guy wire covers for the top strand of fence on that end, 2days later 4 NEW ones showed up at my house. Last winter they heard of our ski flyin at a local lake & balls showed up on a wire crossing a clearing on the north end, again without any request. It may be different in your case because I'm sure they will need to have a helicopter install them.

As for getting it on a sectional, good luck, start making calls to the FAA & if your persistent I bet it will happen.

I am 97% sure the lines belong to Bonneville power and 3% ,either idaho Falls Power or LowerValley energy. You can always hit them to find the real owner but.... the kool dog will lose his daddy. .

I do know when I created my private airport the FAA branch in Denver was most helpful.... The whole clan in Washington DC is totally fucked up and will purposefully screw thing up to justify their existance so you might want to steer clear of those idiots.... ....


Ben.

Most probably already know this but just incase...

The first picture is a good example of why to never fly below the level of the tops of the towers/poles. There is a fine wire streatched tight between the tops of towers/poles to keep even tension on the towers. This wire is invisible!

Sometimes a flyer isn't aware of that fine wire and sees only the heavy conductors which are easy to see in the picture drooping low between the poles. Look close and you can barely see a 4th wire to the left of the three conductors. It is quite a bit higher than the three obvious wires.

tcj wrote:Most probably already know this but just incase...

The first picture is a good example of why to never fly below the level of the tops of the towers/poles. There is a fine wire streatched tight between the tops of towers/poles to keep even tension on the towers. This wire is invisible!

Sometimes a flyer isn't aware of that fine wire and sees only the heavy conductors which are easy to see in the picture drooping low between the poles. Look close and you can barely see a 4th wire to the left of the three conductors. It is quite a bit higher than the three obvious wires.

Interesting... I always thought the top wire was for absorbing lightening strikes and giving it an easy path to ground thus preventing a voltage spike to the main conductors.... Keeping the towers evenly tensioned does make good sense though....

ben.

Interesting... I always thought the top wire was for absorbing lightening strikes and giving it an easy path to ground thus preventing a voltage spike to the main conductors.... Keeping the towers evenly tensioned does make good sense though....

ben.

Well, that could be correct. The tension purpose is just what I heard from some hangar talk.

Before I parked my 182 last year. I was getting into a habit of marking (pressing the "Mark" button on my 396) hazards (mostly power lines) and other items of interest on my Garmin 396 GPS. If I can, I write a note of the marked item with it's corresponding number and go back and edit the description with a red marker so it appears on my GPS next time I'm back in that area.

I also use my Garmin 396 when I'm driving in the 4x4 and big rig. Especially when I'm driving in the mountains and desert of Idaho, Oregon, and Nevada, I'll mark some roads that I feel would make for some great emergency landings area's. For example. From the air, Warm Lake Road from Cascade to Landmark doesn't look all that great of a landing option. But from the ground, there are lot's of great options for an emergency landing. So I've marked a few spots just in case I need to land ASAP And have done so on many other roads in area's that I fly frequently.

Many years ago, long before I became a pilot, I served on a jury regarding the passenger of a small float plane who was suing the power company after they flew into the lines claiming they should have been marked.

Now, I knew nothing about aviation law or pilot responsibility back then but during the trial it was established that this wasn't a known area that aircraft would be flying, the pilot should have checked things out first, and most importantly, nobody had ever told the power company that it could be a hazard (as far as was presented at trial). The last bit was enough for me that I would have ruled in favor of the power company.
There were others on the jury that would have ruled in favor of the plaintiff. What pushed the trial over to the defendant was that the plaintiff admitted on tape that he and the pilot had been smoking dope before going flying (in a borrowed airplane no less). I couldn't believe it, we had to argue with some people (and still didn't win over a couple) that the pilot and plaintiff were dorks. (civil trials don't require unanimous agreement).

Without the dope argument, It would have been a hung jury with most ruling for the power company.

The fact the power company wasn't aware of the hazard was a very compelling argument for most of us regardless of the dope smoking. So once someone mentions it, it does open them up for liability suits should someone actually hit those wires. Today, I'd probably rule differently just because I do think it's the pilots responsibility to check it out first but I probably wouldn't be allowed to serve on a jury of that nature anymore anyway.

A written , dated, letter clearly articulating the SAFETY hazard with those pictures included will be forwarded to the Risk dept. and probably dealt with. It's too much liability for them to ignore and then have that letter pop up in a discovery pile if someone were to hit it. A guy did hit a river guaging cable just 15 miles or so upstream while checking out the rapids prior to a kayaking trip.

I will go the Idaho Power route, they know me already down at the Pocatello office due to my grid tie wind,solar, and hydro system. Plus I know some line workers and office people there. I'll take the cord's and we can sit down and google earth it, and I'm sure they can find out whose it is. Maybe it will end up giving a little work to a helicopter contractor! I plan to stay on it....and will post what happens and when.

Yeah that skinny upper wire is the getter, I saw a guy hit the line out by Simplots (second or third largest Idaho Power customer, so LOTS of voltage and amperage) in an ultralight 30 some years ago, that stopped him, then he pinballed through the hot lines, now on fire, and lastly dropped the last 80 or 90 feet to the ground. I took the thing apart the next day: the nylon was melted out of the nuts, the spars had holes spaced along their length the size of silver dollars, the stainless tangs were melted through, but the open cockpit was unzapped, and my buddy was out of the hospital the next morning with the total damage being a sprained shoulder. He's still walking around today, frigging amazing. Oh yeah, the plastic fuel jugs had about 4 gallons of gas in them. They didn't break or catch on fire, I dumped the gas in my plane in exchange for the trouble of taking his bird to the dump

Nosedragger wrote:A written , dated, letter clearly articulating the SAFETY hazard with those pictures included will be forwarded to the Risk dept. and probably dealt with. It's too much liability for them to ignore and then have that letter pop up in a discovery pile if someone were to hit it. A guy did hit a river guaging cable just 15 miles or so upstream while checking out the rapids prior to a kayaking trip.

Yeah,,, the idiot that hit the guaging cable was Fletcher Anderson in the local CAP plane, 9928H... He was the main reason I quit the CAP... I even helped him roll the plane out of the hangar that morning , apparently so could head down to Afton to give flight instructions in it.. And, the cable was just 18 feet off the water... POOR piloting skills for sure...

Another big NO NO in a CAP plane... It was his THIRD plane crash so his time was coming, and he was a CAP check pilot...the US tax payers paid dearly for his last fuck up. -X .. Funny how the CAP swept this dog and pony show under the rug...

IMHO.
ben

I came out pretty good. His widow gave me all his stuff, he had a lot of it.

Talk about a coincidence! Today I'm doing a crane job in a power substation (outside of Ashton Id. more or less in the neighborhood of the "bad" powerline) and I'm working with guys from the Bonneville Power Administration, (48" AWAY FROM 125,000 VOLTS ) and I told them about the situation I have vowed to remedy. I have phone numbers and a person to ask for. They all seemed to think "no sweat, they'll do something about it". Good start anyway