Met-Ed announced this week that helicopter inspections of power lines in several counties in its service area, including York, Adams, Cumberland, Dauphin, and Lebanon, will take place this month.
The company's helicopter contractor, Haverfield, will be flying aircraft slowly and lower than many residents are used to seeing, a Met Ed spokesperson said.
"People will probably notice the helicopter, since it will be performing a slow, structure-by-structure, span-by-span inspection where the onboard inspector gets a thorough look from top to bottom at each structure, associated hardware, and conductors of the transmission line," spokesman Todd Meyers said. "They are looking for damaged wire, broken cross arms, cracked insulators or other problems that could lead to service interruptions for our customers."
The helicopter will be moving very slowly along each of the transmission lines and will often be seen hovering while carrying out these inspections. Meyers said.
Met-Ed said the helicopter pilot will remain in contact with local airports when flying in their airspace, and the company said it will make an effort to contact any know sensitive property owners in the area, like horse or livestock farms.
The helicopter you’ll see in the air is a black Hughes MD500 with red tail registration numbers N175JL, Meyers said.
