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The helicopter must be raised to the line voltage prior to him stepping onto the platform. Otherwise, he's the conduit for the voltage to the helicopter. It wouldn't hurt him.........but, I'd suspect there's a jolt involved........similar to static shock.........very high voltage.........no amperage.

Why is that an issue if the helicopter is not grounded? Can birds land on high voltage lines without harming themselves?

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I think it's a matter of the spark that is going to jump from the man to the helicopter. Not exactly comfortable..........but, it won't harm the individual.

A bird would also draw the spark. Can't vouch for how they like it.

When he was Bonding On to the power line he was making himself and the helicopter have the same electrical charge as the power line.

Guessing from the arc that came from his rod I would guess the helicopter was electrically charged somehow. probably from the moving blades.

I'm not exactly sure how it works but it a similar procedure from working on the ground. When on a lift they bond on a pole from the lift to the power line. Then they are able to touch the line without frying.
It has to be insulated from the ground somehow or the current would carry through.

Danny

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It's all about charges and capacitors...

I am a bit rusty here, but here is what I understand.

Capacitor theory. A voltage potential difference applied across the two surfaces causes electrons to accumulate on one surface, while removing them from the opposite surface. Capacitors have also been called Accumulators for this reason.

Now, since electrical charges can accumulate on its surface of the helicopter, it might be viewed as one surface of a flying capacitor.

What happens in the case of Alternating Current, when the voltage polarity is reversed?

(By way of a side note, this reversal is sinusoidal in nature, 60 times per second, for the 60Hz power we take for granted.)

Even though the 'positive' and 'negative' surfaces of a capacitor have no direct connection, current can 'flow' through it. How? The electrons accumulate first on one ('negative') surface, and are removed from the opposite ('positive') surface. When the voltage's polarity reverses, they move to the opposite surfaces. This movement back and forth of electrons is also what is called current.

While the helicopter is hovering near the high voltage line, the line will induce a charge on the surfaces closest to the line, and an opposite charge on the surfaces of other side.

If the potential difference is great enough, an arc can form across the air gap and a current will flow until the charge are equalized. Ah, but this potential difference is continuously changing, so the charges will never 'equalize' but instead a charging current will keep flowing through the arc.

The wand is used to provide a channel for this charge-equalizing current to flow until a bonding cable can be clamped on. If the wand was not used, the arc would form at the weakest gap, be it the platform, the rotor blade or the lineman's arm.

Once the bonding cable is clamped, the electrons or charging current can flow back and forth through the cable so that to the helicopter and the line are at the same potential and no more arcing occurs.

Without the bond, the helicopter and/or lineman would be subjected to a continuous series of arc strikes.


Whew, I hope I got this right!

Yeah, that's what I've always heard. It's not the voltage that'll kill you. It's the amperage. Personally, I just try to stay away from both electrical and plumbing problems. When I have attempted to handle such things myself, it was never pretty.

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OBK #55

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