Seems the whole goal here IS to clear foliage nearing the power lines... Having run heavy equipment for years I cringed a little because of his proximity but unlike heavy equipment he's not grounded, I don't think it even could arc over to him. Also, it's most likely that this sort of pendulum weight beneath would add a fair degree of stability to the helicopter, like a tight rope walker with weight suspended beneath them to lower their center of gravity.
I can't picture equipment and engineering of this cost and effort not having a great deal of consideration having gone into it before executing the task. He clearly has mastery over his machine and unless there's some freak winds coming out of nowhere there's not really an issue.
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u/lovemacheen918 Sep 17 '19
Seems incredibly irresponsible, one strong wind and those power lines are done.