Issue link: https://alabamapower.uberflip.com/i/1196538
TECHNOLOGY 14 14 S tar Trek fans are familiar with the opening intro to the popular 1960s television show: "To boldly go where no man has gone before." It may be melodramatic to say the same about Alabama Power's drone program. But the small aeronautic inventions equipped with cameras are going where no linemen or storm surveyors can go — high above damage not easily accessible to Power Delivery personnel, where they can quickly get a bird's-eye view of power line problems. "We've used them a lot on big storms," said Allen Whisenant, a line construction coordinator in Eastern Division and one of 46 Alabama Power employees trained and licensed to fly drones. "Where someone would have to walk over bad terrain, we can fly (over) a power line a lot faster and safer than someone can get out and physically walk that section." "They were a huge benefit assisting in the reconstruction of downed power lines in Puerto Rico" in the wake of the 2018 Hurricane Maria, said Bobby Hawthorne, the Power Delivery Distribution Engineering Services manager and leader of Alabama Power's drone program. Drones hung 70,000 feet of rope that line crews used to pull new conductors over steep ravines and valleys in jungle conditions that otherwise would require significant manpower and time to traverse. "We would have had to go in there with machetes and chainsaws," Hawthorne said. Whisenant also cited using a drone to pull a rope across a body of water, much in the same way, allowing crews to re-tie a power line without a boat. As essential as they have become, drones are useful for more than reconnaissance of storm damage. Routine inspections in hard-to- reach places are done faster, easier, cheaper and safer. "If we have a recurring outage on a line, I can go and fly and look at every connection, insulator, arrestor and switch to see if anything is heating up and could be causing an outage," Whisenant said. "I've found numerous arrestors and a few by Gilbert Nicholson PHOTO by JAY PARKER Crews watch a company Inspire 1 drone, piloted by Rankin Rouse, take to the air in Puerto Rico. Use of the machines saved valuable restoration time.