Vic Powerline Job

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Freewheeling
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Vic Powerline Job

Postby Freewheeling » Fri Jan 24 2020, 06:37

Does anyone know what machine type and who is operating and doing the maintenance on the choppers for the new powerline contract in Vic which have just advertised for pilots on HeliJobs.com?
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Rotorpilot
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Re: Vic Powerline Job

Postby Rotorpilot » Sat Jan 25 2020, 12:10

Would love this oppertunity......
Dem winds are gonna blow
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mdav
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Re: Vic Powerline Job

Postby mdav » Sun Jan 26 2020, 04:02

I’m not much help but appears CitiPower along with Powercor are setting up a aviation wing, I guess they think they will save money if they don’t have to contract the work out, only if they knew. pop;
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havick
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Re: Vic Powerline Job

Postby havick » Sun Jan 26 2020, 05:30

mdav wrote:I’m not much help but appears CitiPower along with Powercor are setting up a aviation wing, I guess they think they will save money if they don’t have to contract the work out, only if they knew. pop;


Perhaps it doesn’t have anything to do with saving money.
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Fill-level
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Re: Vic Powerline Job

Postby Fill-level » Sun Jan 26 2020, 06:48

They have been gold plating the networks for years , 5-10 helicopters and crew , won’t even scratch the bottom line ...broken lines will.

Australia is just catching up with the rest of the western world , building it’s own air wing.

Exciting times ahead
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Re: Vic Powerline Job

Postby Mag seal » Sun Jan 26 2020, 08:12

Fill-level wrote:They have been gold plating the networks for years , 5-10 helicopters and crew , won’t even scratch the bottom line ...broken lines will.

Australia is just catching up with the rest of the western world , building it’s own air wing.

Exciting times ahead




True, there's a company in England (Western Power) that run their own fleet of EC135 aircraft on Powerline Inspectons. Not many would knock that back over here.

Good luck to them.
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Twistgrip
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Re: Vic Powerline Job

Postby Twistgrip » Sun Jan 26 2020, 09:03

Back in the 90’s Transgrid and the RMS (DMR) both had 109’s for powerline work and transport respectively.
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Biggles
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Re: Vic Powerline Job

Postby Biggles » Sun Jan 26 2020, 09:45

Snowy Hydro also had their own AOC and 206 back in the day in the snowy mountains
tailrotor
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Re: Vic Powerline Job

Postby tailrotor » Fri Mar 6 2020, 04:01

So does anyone actually know anything about this? machinery type? etc? any rumors?
Cunningstunt
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Re: Vic Powerline Job

Postby Cunningstunt » Fri Mar 6 2020, 05:49

2 b505s
A noob on the subject
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Re: Vic Powerline Job

Postby A noob on the subject » Fri Mar 6 2020, 07:47

Hey man, got nothing on the power lines job, but whilst I went looking for it on Heli Jobs, I found this rather interesting SAR Co-Pilot job with CHC if anyone's interested.
Appears to be out of RAAF base East Sale, VIC.

This link takes you directly to the job description on their website:

https://careers-chccrew.icims.com/jobs/ ... -pilot/job
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Eric Hunt
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Re: Vic Powerline Job

Postby Eric Hunt » Sun Mar 8 2020, 05:24

In a previous life, I did a lot of powerline work for the various councils, Prospect, Illawarra, and others whose names have sunk into the morass of large-scale agglomerations. In the early 90s, Prospect decided that only chopper companies certified to AS 9002 for Quality Assurance would win the contract. There were none in existence, but we jumped into the deep end and started the expensive certification. No way it would be finished before the tenders closed, but at least ours was the only company that had started the process, so we won the tender.

We flew their lines, and noted every fault, broken insulator, tracking on the crossbar, wire unravelling, all the detail. Even found a pole that had been splintered by lightning, the wire on the ground, and a dead cow that had trodden on the wire. Next to the cow were a dead fox that chewed on the electric cow, and a pair of feet and some feathers that belonged to a crow that pecked the powered-up fox. All reported in high fashion.

The SA certification came through for us later, and the following year we were still the only company to hold it, so we got it again. And there were the same faults, including the same splintered pole (but replaced) with the bones of the cow, the fox and the crow. I asked why the faults had not been fixed, the inspectors said that the councils had been forcibly amalgamated, and instead of each area having its own repair team, there was now one team for the whole lot. They found that fixing things when spotted was too expensive, better to wait until it fails and then fix it.

Following year, a large section of the area was taken out of the contract - when asked, they said that one of the local inspectors had his own Cessna and a private licence, and he was doing the inspections for a fraction of the price. I asked how an inspection could be done from 200' and 100kt, and without the ability to stop and have a closer look, and illegally, without an AOC? The reply was, "The reason for the inspections is to tell the insurance company that the lines are in good condition so that a policy for coverage will be issued. This satisfies the insurance needs."

So much for Quality Assurance.

The A109s of Dept Main Roads and the ELCOM were mentioned - the DMR chopper became the unofficial VIP transport for Nifty Neville and his state govt cohorts, ELCOM to a lesser degree.
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Jabberwocky
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Re: Vic Powerline Job

Postby Jabberwocky » Sun Mar 8 2020, 07:03

I used to work for a survey company who got very busy after the Victorian bushfires. We were working to the south of the state when high temperatures and strong westerly winds were forecast for the next day - the first high fire danger for that season. We flew around in incredibly windy conditions to a dozen or so poles. Low and behold, all had stranded wires or very dodgey insulators or connections and were obviously all already in the system and known to management. The weather made them s#!t themselves so they needed to get an inspection in quick smart. Fortunately nothing eventuated, made you wonder why we ever tried so hard when they didn’t fix things like that anyway.
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Rotor Kraft
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Re: Vic Powerline Job

Postby Rotor Kraft » Mon Mar 9 2020, 04:52

Cunningstunt wrote:2 b505s


I'd have thought a couple of Squirrels or 6XX would do the job more bettera :?
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Evil Twin
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Re: Vic Powerline Job

Postby Evil Twin » Mon Mar 9 2020, 14:05

If the CP is whom I’m told it is you’d be better off on the dole
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Re: Vic Powerline Job

Postby SuperF » Mon Mar 9 2020, 19:51

Rotor Kraft wrote:
Cunningstunt wrote:2 b505s


I'd have thought a couple of Squirrels or 6XX would do the job more bettera :?


Why would u need the extra expense of squirrels or 600 to do a job that a 44 could actually do? 505’s would be fine for line surveys.
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Re: Vic Powerline Job

Postby robaussie99 » Mon Mar 9 2020, 21:55

SuperF wrote:
Rotor Kraft wrote:
Cunningstunt wrote:2 b505s


I'd have thought a couple of Squirrels or 6XX would do the job more bettera :?


Why would u need the extra expense of squirrels or 600 to do a job that a 44 could actually do? 505’s would be fine for line surveys.


Depends where you are in the world...there are places that the client requires a twin!

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