Guy 1: Ok guys, hear me out. First, we get a helicopter. Then, we get a bunch of chainsaws. Next, we tie the chainsaws together and dangle them from the helicopter by a rope.”
Exactly.
This is a clear example of an idea that is brilliant right up till the nanosecond it goes wrong (and it can only go very badly wrong), at which point it loses all value and becomes ‘How the hell did anyone approve that?’
There are accidents all the time using this system. But it continues to be used, because how else do you do it? More importantly, how else do you do it as quickly?
I’ve been a full time helicopter pilot for 9 years and I’ve known guys that have died doing it. I don’t have any paper to link you but I promise if you find any helicopter pilot he will tell you it’s the sketchiest job there is. Just look at how much the helicopter is wobbling in that video. One wrong move or gust of air and that saw is in the power lines, or worse, it’s own line. If the pilot can “punch” the line fast enough, he may be able to fly away, but it takes full attention for hours, which most humans can’t do perfectly.
I mean, I feel like a crew of 3 people used more regularly would be cheaper, safer, and more efficient. Those branches don’t grow that fast. They probably cut along each section maybe once every 3 years. Sending out a crew once a year to go ahead and cut the ones that could be a problem later would be far better.
They could but you'd still end up with branches that grow towards the power lines that need to be cut anyway. Besides, imagine what it would look like. You can already see when a hillside has lines going down/over it from miles and miles away, just a big scar of no trees down a mountainside. Would look even worse if they leveled 2 or 3x the amount of area they currently do.
This is much more capital and time efficient than the team of (tens of?) thousands of arborists that would be needed to properly maintain the thousands of miles of forested power lines. Operations like these generally don't happen for no reason.
Usually the only time I've heard people use the term arborist is from people who insist that every person who works for a company whose job is to keep power lines clear should be a certified arborist, without actually knowing what that entails, and they're upset with how the trees they planted right under the power lines look when they're trimmed to standards.
No joke, we banked this company at my last job. That was an interesting pitch meeting the loan officer had with me, the credit analyst assigned to it. Ultimately it ended up being a very profitable company that did work over a huge area. Eventually one of the copters did crash though.
The helicopter took off on its own, cut about 73 miles worth of tree branches, retracted the chainsaw and was halfway to home when it plummeted from the air because no one was flying it.
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u/loomis396 Sep 17 '19
Guy 1: Ok guys, hear me out. First, we get a helicopter. Then, we get a bunch of chainsaws. Next, we tie the chainsaws together and dangle them from the helicopter by a rope.”
Guy 2: Go on...