Invite to Participate in a Powerline Safety Survey

[Steve Griffin]

I am in the process of putting together a free Powerline Safety e-book for balloon pilots and crew. I have a couple of surveys running on the web at the moment as part of my information gathering for the handbook which I would like as many people (globally) as possible to complete.

All balloon pilots and crew worldwide are invited to take part. There are 2 surveys running, a pilot survey and a crew survey. It does not matter whether or not respondents have been involved in a power line incident as the questions are looking to establish what are the normal behaviours of the ballooning community. For those pilots and crew that have some ‘experience’ with powerlines there are a few additional questions to ascertain the nature and circumstances surrounding the ‘experience’.

The surveys can be completed anonymously if respondents prefer.

The surveys are not about naming or blaming anyone. The survey results will not include any names or individual responses.
The results will be freely available in the e-book and on the web at https://www.brisbanehotairballooning.com.au/faqs/safety-research.html , links to the surveys can also be found on this page.

Survey respondents who provide their email address will be notified when the survey results and e-book are published. Email addresses will not be used for any other purpose.



Steve Griffin

[Dawn Chase]

Hi. I love that you are working on this project. I would like to get this out to our entire balloon club. Thank you for your efforts to improve ballooning safety!

[Eric Hodges]

I just completed the survey and I wanted to urge anyone else to do it as well.

On a separate note...

Steve,

I tried the hearing loss survey as well and when it got the the question where it asks if you have ever worn hearing protection while flying....when I pressed the next button it just returned me to the beginning of the survey. I did it twice and had the same result both times.

[Steve Griffin]

I knew that I should have removed the link to that one.... It is fixed now

[Barry Jones]

Hi Steve

I did a little explanation power lines some time ago for dawn in one of her discussions
and I give you free access and use of the material if you wish to use it

Barry

[Steve Griffin]

Thanks Barry, yes I am trying to gather as much material as I can at present. Could you please send your material. I will reference any other it that is used.

Steve

[Barry Jones]

here we go Steve part 1

Hi Dawn
I have done a copy and paste for you

As an electrician within heavy industry for forty years I have sat and read the mail and consider
most of you are unable to grasp the concept of what actually happens in a wire strike .

I sat and pondered for a number of days of an easy way to explain or give insight to the masses
so here goes.

voltage = the electromotive force or the pressure
current = flow of energy

if we relate this to your garden hose
current is the amount of water coming from the hose and
voltage is the pressure at which it is flowing.


striking one wire on its own is not a big deal in fact apart from static
discharge you can actually handle the wire and hold it off the balloon.

believe me ?? why does a bird not have any problem.

We put men on live transmission lines with helicopters for inspections and
maintenance and we recover them ALIVE.

Most of the power lines you will see are spaced at about 1 foot per 5,000
volts for high tension so the further apart the higher the voltage.

the systems that monitor and look after the line protection are split into
two sections

section 1 being earth fault current
this is normally set at a very low level because earth faults normally mean
that a line has fallen or an insulator has arced over
in most cases this would require a line inspection and is not normally
associated with the auto reclose system

section 2 being line current
this section measures the line current and can in some cases be set as high
as 1,000 amps per phase and is associated with auto reclose systems.
so between any 2 wires on a high voltage system we have a potential current
of around 11/2 times the line current setting.

still with me ??

now I said before that "striking one wire on its own is not a big deal" do
you still believe me ??

WHAT inerrably happens is the basket strikes the first wire and the momentum
of the balloon draws the wire toward the one next door.
once the wires meet minimal distance an ARC occurs between the wires
releasing huge amounts of energy.

I have witnessed a number of results from releases or arc over in switch
yards that have even made holes in 1/2 inch steel plate.

there is only one thing you can add to a balloon to make it safer
THAT'S DISTANCE.

Why do we have high voltage lines ? that would take another page but if
your interested I will try and explain.



Barry Jones

[Barry Jones]

Ok Steve
part two

High voltage lines

Remember the water pipe ??

voltage = the electromotive force or the pressure
current = flow of energy

if we relate this to your garden hose current is the amount of water
coming from the hose and voltage is the pressure at which it is flowing.

Sorry your garden hose, lets now move to the front gate and talk about the
utility company

The utility company ( I ) am supplying you with water from a 1 inch pipe but
now there are
2 of your neighbors who would also like water
my 1 inch pipe will supply 2 house but not 3

my chouses are
1 dig up my inch pipe and replace it with a 6 inch pipe which will supply 3
houses
and leave me with future capacity.

2 increase the pressure on the 1 inch pipe and install pressure regulators
at each house
to give the houses equal pressure.

The same applies to the electricity supply but can you imagine the size of
the pipes to feed a city
under option 1

If we now look at this electrically with a simple calculation and see what
happens
You a probably familure with the term KWH from your utility power company
this term is thousands of watts per hour or kilowatt hours
lets work with a standard lamp of 100 watts

I have 100 houses with 1 lamp too supply from my line at 100 volts
calculation goes like this Watts = volts * amps or amps = watts / volts

so 100 Watts / 100 Volts equals 1 Amp this is the current capacity of my
line.

I now wish to supply 10,000 houses with a 100 watt lamp on the same line.

so 10,000 WATTS / 100 volts = 100 amps that's the size of a welding cable.

Is that bird still on the wire ??

If I increase the voltage ( pressure ) and use a voltage reducer (
transformer ) at the street level
I am now able to supply 10,000 houses with the same size wire as I was using
for the 100 houses.

try that calculation again with 10,000 volts

10,000 WATTS / 10,000 volts = 1 amp

Now hopefully we start to see why there are all those high tension lines.
But there are 3 lines you say, look at that as 3 pipes.

SO if I now touch 2 pipes together imagine the amount of water that will
flow.

Barry

[Steve Griffin]

Thanks Barry,
there is some good information in there that I will be sure to use.
Sorry about the slow reply, I have been otherwise engaged.


Steve