YORK COUNTY, Pa.– Turning the lights on is something we take for granted. It takes crews to make sure we are able to have the power to our homes. Not every power line is located along a road. Some are tucked away in woods and hard to reach areas.
“There could be things back where you don’t see everyday,” Adams Electric Cooperative Lineman Craig Mummert said.
The crews uses a helicopter to go up in the sky to see the lines and look for problems.
“It’s very beneficial to use the helicopter and get these things looked at if problems arise,” he said.
They use a helicopter and pilot from Pine Bottom Aviation. The crews go up in the late winter when the trees are not bloomed.
“You’re up there looking for things. It’s not just a joyride,” Mummert said.
In the sky they use an iPad to look at the map of their lines and mark down.
If they find an issue, they mark it down and report it to the supervisor.
“We’ve had problems where we’ve landed, immediately called back to have it taken care of that day and others where we take care of it the next day,” Mummert said.
He said if they didn’t use the helicopter it would take weeks to check the lines, instead of just a few days.
“In just a matter of seconds to a minute you can see it and mark the problems,” Mummert said.
