Blackout by drone??

[Phill2]

Must have been a BIG drone to bring down a power line?

Drone causes blackout in Kingsley after bringing down powerlines
PerthNow
May 22, 2019 11:59AM
TOPICS
WA News
A drone has been blamed for wiping out power to around 3000 Western Power customers on Tuesday night after it crashed into powerlines in Kingsley.
The incident occurred just after 7pm with customers reporting a power line had fallen across the road near the corner of Kingsley Avenue and Whitfords Drive.
Andy Shaw, Western Power Head of Safety, said an emergency response crew attended to make the area safe. A network operations team restored power about 8pm, redirecting electricity through unaffected parts of the grid.
“The cause of the outage is believed to be from a drone flying in to the network after reports from customers of a drone flying in the area moments before the outage,” Mr Shaw said.

“The drone was then reported to have been picked up by a member of the public after the line had been brought down.”
Worryingly, Mr Shaw said, a member of the public potentially put their safety at risk to collect the downed drone soon after the crash.
“What is concerning is the report of a person allegedly coming close to a fallen powerline to retrieve some of their property, and not thought to make the safe call and stay away from a potential electrical hazard,” he said
“We always treat these types of hazards as an emergency incident and will send the closest crew, under lights and sirens, to attend to ensure the community is safe from the potential of electric shock.”

 

[Deleted member 62848]

Wonder if drone still work,,might have some good firmware after that,learner flyer I reckon

 

[Phill2]

I reckon it's more likely the falling power line took out the drone.

 

[Deleted member 62848]

Or the drone breaking the PowerLine, how does residents know drone was flying around at time ? They must have been watching ?? I did think the power lines are solid copper cable and does seem bit odd that drone could chop one ,I know I used to steal them as young fellow with a axe,,even where cable mounts to insulator on post it's also bolted so would take a good wack to break it,,,just my 2 cents on that,,good read though,,yes last big earthquake brought down some PowerLine that I had to drive over on return trip road all blocked off,,,over kill,,massive detour that night,,,and yes I been electrocuted and still here,,I know power very good and that's another stories,,

Sorry if my reply shocked you

 

[WV. Rootman]

Or the drone breaking the PowerLine, how does residents know drone was flying around at time ? They must have been watching ?? I did think the power lines are solid copper cable and does seem bit odd that drone could chop one ,I know I used to steal them as young fellow with a axe,,even where cable mounts to insulator on post it's also bolted so would take a good wack to break it,,,just my 2 cents on that,,good read though,,yes last big earthquake brought down some PowerLine that I had to drive over on return trip road all blocked off,,,over kill,,massive detour that night,,,and yes I been electrocuted and still here,,I know power very good and that's another stories,,

Sorry if my reply shocked you

Sounds like words from a real expert. lol It's too hard to believe. Also sounds like Drone-A- PHOBIA!

 

[Adamborz]

Or the drone breaking the PowerLine, how does residents know drone was flying around at time ? They must have been watching ?? I did think the power lines are solid copper cable and does seem bit odd that drone could chop one ,I know I used to steal them as young fellow with a axe,,even where cable mounts to insulator on post it's also bolted so would take a good wack to break it,,,just my 2 cents on that,,good read though,,yes last big earthquake brought down some PowerLine that I had to drive over on return trip road all blocked off,,,over kill,,massive detour that night,,,and yes I been electrocuted and still here,,I know power very good and that's another stories,,

Sorry if my reply shocked you

Haha a pun!

 

[Andy9]

No way! Must be a huge drone with metal propellers. An usual drone can't do that.

 

[2edgesword]

I'd like to know the tensile strength of the wire that would be used for an outside utility power line and what type of force it would take to snap it? The next question would be what would the size and speed of a drone have to be to hit this wire and break it? It would not only have to have sufficient force in general but that force would have to be applied very precisely to transfer all of that energy into the wire.

 

[Nightwolf]

This is next level stupid.

 

[Deleted member 62848]

I'd like to know the tensile strength of the wire that would be used for an outside utility power line and what type of force it would take to snap it? The next question would be what would the size and speed of a drone have to be to hit this wire and break it? It would not only have to have sufficient force in general but that force would have to be applied very precisely to transfer all of that energy into the wire.

I know when cars hit power poles they can break,,that's the impact it needs,,we still have copper lines here,alloy slowly replace them,drone just has no weight behind it,drone no match for wire so interesting to see if any more news on that storie

 

[Deleted member 62848]

Sounds like words from a real expert. lol It's too hard to believe. Also sounds like Drone-A- PHOBIA!

Ha yip silly young days,copper worth a fortune back then and scrap metal dealers love it,yes paided the price though when got caught,,we have this thing called PD,(periodic detention)once a week out with a gang doing community work ,done lot of forestry work,,(got pruning certificate out of it) I was there so long,that made me good and learn not to get caught,moral of this storie,don't pic up anything that attached to something,

 

[DanDiego]

This is next level stupid.
View attachment 111450

Must have been a BIG drone to bring down a power line?

Drone causes blackout in Kingsley after bringing down powerlines
PerthNow
May 22, 2019 11:59AM
TOPICS
WA News
A drone has been blamed for wiping out power to around 3000 Western Power customers on Tuesday night after it crashed into powerlines in Kingsley.
The incident occurred just after 7pm with customers reporting a power line had fallen across the road near the corner of Kingsley Avenue and Whitfords Drive.
Andy Shaw, Western Power Head of Safety, said an emergency response crew attended to make the area safe. A network operations team restored power about 8pm, redirecting electricity through unaffected parts of the grid.
“The cause of the outage is believed to be from a drone flying in to the network after reports from customers of a drone flying in the area moments before the outage,” Mr Shaw said.

“The drone was then reported to have been picked up by a member of the public after the line had been brought down.”
Worryingly, Mr Shaw said, a member of the public potentially put their safety at risk to collect the downed drone soon after the crash.
“What is concerning is the report of a person allegedly coming close to a fallen powerline to retrieve some of their property, and not thought to make the safe call and stay away from a potential electrical hazard,” he said
“We always treat these types of hazards as an emergency incident and will send the closest crew, under lights and sirens, to attend to ensure the community is safe from the potential of electric shock.”

 

[DanDiego]

Woman at War (2018) - IMDb This excellent indie film shows how powerlines can be shorted plus it has some surprising drone action.

 

[Deleted member 62848]

Woman at War (2018) - IMDb This excellent indie film shows how powerlines can be shorted plus it has some surprising drone action.

Yes looks like great movie,I watched the trailer,,cross bow bit much,,simple chain does wonders,she's on a mission though,

 

[BanditsRoost]

Or the drone breaking the PowerLine, how does residents know drone was flying around at time ? They must have been watching ?? I did think the power lines are solid copper cable and does seem bit odd that drone could chop one ,I know I used to steal them as young fellow with a axe,,even where cable mounts to insulator on post it's also bolted so would take a good wack to break it,,,just my 2 cents on that,,good read though,,yes last big earthquake brought down some PowerLine that I had to drive over on return trip road all blocked off,,,over kill,,massive detour that night,,,and yes I been electrocuted and still here,,I know power very good and that's another stories,,

Sorry if my reply shocked you

More likely someone "shooting" at the drone took the power line down.
Heh Heh

 

[Capt KO]

If you want some real excitement try casting an 8 foot wire shark leader over the powerlines but whatever you do DON’T LOOK! unless you have welding glasses on. Think 8 foot light bulb filament with thousands of volts. You might also want to wear ear plugs because it will be LOUD! Yes I was that idiot kid that brought down the powerlines at Belleair Beach. Just thinking, maybe the drone was dragging a wire shark leader under it. Just a thought

 

[grego122]

I turned a 13 year old boy lose with a weed wacker it had a blade on it and he managed
To cut the guide wire to a pole with three transformers, With one hit! The power company said
it cut it because the wire was under tension! Could have knocked out the power to the
Nursing home we were working at!

 

[lasersbee]

There is no way a typical RC Drone could take down a high voltage
power line.
If it did then the power line was already damaged or in bad repair
and was about to fall anyway in a high wind.

Jerry

 

[sactownjames]

My Phantom 2 into a power line.

 

[The Springs]

Ha yip silly young days,copper worth a fortune back then and scrap metal dealers love it,yes paided the price though when got caught,,we have this thing called PD,(periodic detention)once a week out with a gang doing community work ,done lot of forestry work,,(got pruning certificate out of it) I was there so long,that made me good and learn not to get caught,moral of this storie,don't pic up anything that attached to something,

We have a railway line that runs through our place .One day I saw a crew working on their power/signal lines .When I asked them what they were up to and they told me some one had gone along with very long handled pruners and removed 5 km of copper wire ! That was a huge effort for a lot of risk and really not that much money .I said if they find them let me know and employ him/them .Hard to find people with a good work ethics these days ...