Helicopter Buzzes Wal-Mart

William W. Plummer wrote:

Peter Duniho wrote:

"Newps" wrote in message
...

They don't police the power lines they check them



Please describe the difference between "police" and "check". To me,
there is none in this context. You've never "policed" your campground
before leaving? "Police" doesn't necessarily mean you're looking for
criminals.

Always looking for a fight, eh.

tr.v. po·liced, po·lic·ing, po·lic·es

1. To regulate, control, or keep in order with or as if with a law
enforcement agency.
2. To make (a military area, for example) neat in appearance: policed
the barracks.


My guess is they are interested in kids drinking in their trucks in the
power line right of way, brush which is overgrowning the area, and
whatever the abutters might be doing to interfere with operations.

Duniho is an idiot, always has been. Anywho...there are a very few
powerlines or pipelines that they actually police. A pipeline patrol
checks many things. They check for leaks, although it's hard to imagine
the pilot finding the leak first as the pressure drop would be
immediately apparent. They look for Bubba out there with the backhoe
digging his new foundation without a permit. They look for trees laying
against the towers or the pipeline. They look for rockslides. Pretty
much anything that could affect the integrity of the line. My mechanic
flies two lines, they each have to be flown once every two weeks. He
makes about $1500 per patrol and each is about 600 air miles long. He
uses mogas so it costs less than $100 per flight. He's an IA so there's
no labor cost on the maintenence.