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Aviation History
1948
1948 - 2126.PDF
714 FLIGHT DECEMBER I6TH, 1948 Power-Line Patrol How Helicopters Save Time and Money in America : An Unpremeditated Night-flight Emergency Landing By C. COLIN COOPER THE day before I was due to return to the east coastof America, I was still trying to build up helicopterflying time with the " AF " Helicopter Company at Burbank, California, when the president of the company, Knute Flint, came bursting into the office where I was on the telephone and asked me to hang up quickly and follow him out to the machines as some emergency had occurred. As we made our way to the hangar, Knute explained that the Eddison Southern Californian Electric Company had had a breakdown on their power line, and that a helicopter was urgently required to locate the fault before the con- sequences of the breakdown became too widespread. Knute had thought that, as this was the very kind of action which would interest me, and to help me build up my time, he would allow me to fly the helicopter along until Fred Bowen, his chief pilot, had tq pick up a power line inspector to patrol the suspected sec- tion of the line. By the time we reached the tarmac, Fred Bowen had the rotor running up, and as I jumped in he whipped her into the air and, heading straight for the high range of mountains that closely bordered the airfield on one side, shouted at me to keep her climbing hard while he busied himself with the radio to pick up any late instructions before we got out of range behind the mountains. Pretty soon we had climbed above the fog that always prevails extensively in the San Fernando Valley, and we were climbing through clear, crisp Californian sunshine, to skim over the 4,000ft summits of the foothills. Shortly we were thrashing over ridges and skirting around peaks at some 7,000ft. It is unfortunate that my descriptive powers fall very far short of being able to describe the scenic beauty of this trip, and my only regret is that I had had no tune lo collect my cine camera before leaving, thus being pre- vented from recording the scenic beauty and the conditions that prevailed, and the rapid action that was taken in response to this emergency call. As we passed over the San Bernadino and Angeles ranges, the little Bell 47B handled very well indeed, although at times Fred had to come to my aid in steadying the ship after one or two of the more severe pockets or up- currents. It must be borne in mind that we were flying at gross weight, some 6,500ft above sea level, and only a few hundred feet above the mountains, where air turbulence was con- siderable ; so it was a very credible performance for the machine to keep up a steady 80 m.p.h. (indicated). As we crossed the final ranges we were able to come down and pick out the power line as it struck out across the scrub desert, and as soon as we suspected that we were approaching our rendezvous, we dropped right down to within a few yards of one' of the pylonn T"H£ author has wade a survey of ' American Helicopter progress for the Helicopter Association of Great Britain. Here he records an experience he had recently when art emergency call came in for locating a fault in a Californian grid lino The Bell helicopter on the dry river bed where it force-landed in fog and darkness. and read the index number on one of its supporting legs. This indicated that we had 24 pylons, or six miles to go, and as we flew up the power line I took the opportunity of studying for myself the ease with which one could view the insulators and cross arms. Even to the inexperienced eye, it would appear to be a simple matter to spot a flashed or cracked insulator while flying past at 40-50 m.p.h. When we saw the red Eddison patrol wagon, Fred slowed the machine down, and selecting a spot free from tall cactus that might have damaged the tail rotor, eased her down just an hour and a half after the line inspector had rung through for helicopter assistance. Considering that two mountain ranges had to be crossed, and that 80 air miles now separated us from base, there could be no complaint of rapidity of response. As the line inspector and Fred flew off again, his mate and I drove down to the nearest town, 40 miles away, to an electric substation, to await the return of the machine. By six o'clock the sub-tropical night had fallen, and it was already quite dark when we heard the familiar flap-flap-flap of the returning rotorcraft. Perhaps I may be excused for thinking that Fred Bowen, after some five hours of helicopter flying, would suggest staying overnight in the village in preference to flying back over the mountains to Burbank. In addition, the valley fog had thickened and now hung about like a thick black velvet curtain. Six Hours Against Two Weeks However, I was wrong, and Fred took it as a matter ol course that we should naturally go home—we were flying a helicopter, a fact for which I was to thank my stars not so very much later. Before we left the substation, the line inspector had been able to report that the helicopter had spotted two insulator flash-backs, either of which could have caused the breakdown, and ground engineers were despatched to the exact pylons just six hours after the break had occurred. They then confided to us that it might have taken two weeks to locate the fault by ground inspec- tion of the whole line! The ~ "-•""•• -"•*--•", helicopter had actually saved a large section of Californian community from industrial breakdown, and the financial saving in- volved must have been terrific. Although power line patrol by helicopter is a scheduled service in many parts of the country, I be- lieve that to date this has always been a precaution- ary patrol, and that this occasion was the first time an emergency patrol was called for. But to get back to the second half of our story, Fred Bowen and I took off from the substation and started on the 50-mile re- turn trip to Burbank. It was my first experience of helicopter night flying, and c 10
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