Looking for Trouble Another key task for utility workers is to inspect the towers and lines for issues requiring maintenance, and to protect them from environmental damage. Inspections can be done with bare eyeballs but are increasingly accomplished with cameras and specialized optical sensors carried by both crewed and uncrewed aircraft. As unmanned aircraft systems (UASs) receive approval for more types of operations, however, especially those beyond visual line of sight, industry observers expect uncrewed aircraft will perform the bulk of inspections.
Above: A Bell 429 belonging to Salt River Project carries inspector Mike Deubler as he examines the utility’s transmission towers and lines supplying power to much of central Arizona.
Left: Strings of insulators, brought down from transmission lines damaged in Puerto Rico by Hurricane Maria, lie in a middle school’s ball field where an MD 530F operated by Northwest Helicopters awaits its next turn at carrying workers and gear to the nearby towers. Repairing storm damage is a common job for utility operators.
Right: A Wilson Construction MD 530F suspends a crew as they install an aerial marker ball in Ontario, California.
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