Help lessen my personal ignorance:

What is it about their outfits that causes this? Or are their outfits purely protection?
What is the difference between these power lines and those of the average american neighborhood that will allow a squirrel to run along one safely, (assuming one could not run along these and die)?

Looks like they were tugging on a cord or rope attached to one of the power lines and pulled it down onto another-Dangerous and foolhardy, and I'll bet if they caught em some Russian prison time.

Power lines are very hard to see from the air. Fuck they're not easy to see from the ground either when you're going 70mph. Next time your driving down the highway keep an eye out for them and see just how close you are to them when you're able to notice them. Now imagine being in the air, landing with no power to go around and have one come into view that close.

It might look fine from up there, but with your engine out and only one chance at putting the plane down safely do you want to take a chance and go for the road then find a power line in your face or a car(s) that you didn't see before or do you go for an open field with no obstacles?

I knew a pilot that got killed landing on a road. He was a regular at the airport I worked at during the summers. He owned a construction company and would regularly fly over and inspect his construction sites. He flew in to the airport one afternoon to get fuel, the next day I was reading about his crash in the paper. After he left the airport he flew to a construction site. He had engine trouble and decided to land on a road near the construction site. A truck pulled out in front of him and he tried to pull up to avoid it, but there was a power line in the way which caused the plane to nose dive into the ground and catch fire. The crash site wasn't far from the airport, so one day I drove out there. There was a perfectly good field next to the road he could have landed on, but I'm guessing he went for the road to avoid damaging his plane.

That's the worst place to try to land. Power lines typically cross highways, not to mention cars and putting others on the ground at risk. During my flight training I was taught to go fields or dirt roads. If a highway is the only place to put down in an emergency, the best place is to land between two lanes which avoids the danger of cars, but you still have power lines, signs and other things in the median to deal with.

The point in an emergency landing is to survive and not worry about the plane. Most people get killed or injured when the pilot tries to save the plane.

Anyone who flies in a small gasoline powered helicopter is a little bit crazy so this guy's behavior and demeanor doesn't surprise me at all. See what they do, really!

http://videosift.com/video/Helicopter-sawing-trees

http://videosift.com/video/The-Dangerous-Task-Of-Repairing-High-Voltage-Power-Lines

And I won't make an exception for large turbine powered helis, either. They are ALL crazy.

I can't vote for this right now. I need to go outside and throw branches on the power lines.

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>> ^BoneRemake:

>> ^mxxcon:
>> ^DrNoodles:
Balls of steel!!
I'm not sure if this is of benefit here.

Were you not listening ? the electricity goes AROUND the Balls of Steel not THROUGH them. The frank and beans will stay golden.
That's what I mean, there's no point in having any special balls. It all goes around you, so they might as well be made of jello.

>> ^mxxcon:

>> ^DrNoodles:
Balls of steel!!
I'm not sure if this is of benefit here.


Were you not listening ? the electricity goes AROUND the Balls of Steel not THROUGH them. The frank and beans will stay golden.

>> ^DrNoodles:

Balls of steel!!
I'm not sure if this is of benefit here.

>> ^ReverendTed:

"So what are the consequences if this line goes down?"
"Load balancing."


thought that was good too

>> ^Unsung_Hero:

If you enjoyed this video, you have to check out the one below:
Bird on a Wire


Not as ball tucking, but still cool and on topic: http://videosift.com/video/Helicopter-sawing-trees

Warn for silly hard rock soundtrack.

Yep, that one's a lot more impressive. Also doesn't have the annoying narration trying to make it sound more dramatic.
>> ^Unsung_Hero:

If you enjoyed this video, you have to check out the one below:
Bird on a Wire

thanks!
In reply to this comment by kulpims:
*promote