I'm 90% certain there's a button to drop the saw instantly. And the power won't route through the helicopter bc it's not grounded, whereas pretty much any ground based equipment would ground the current if it touched the wire.
They use these across tens of thousands of miles of power easements all the time. The easements need regular pruning to keep branches from touching the wires and starting electrical fires.
Relatively little. The helicopter isn't grounded and I've fairly certain they can quick-disconnect the saw.
Just one example - what if the pilot makes a mistake and sends the saw into the power lines?
I'm 90% certain there's a button to drop the saw instantly. And the power won't route through the helicopter bc it's not grounded, whereas pretty much any ground based equipment would ground the current if it touched the wire.
They use these across tens of thousands of miles of power easements all the time. The easements need regular pruning to keep branches from touching the wires and starting electrical fires.
I know nothing about this, but I would imagine it's not a button, its likely mechanical. If the safety circuit detects an arc, the cable detaches.
If each of those wires are carrying multiple phases or voltages, the saw could initiate an arc between the wires.
https://youtu.be/gOT8jx4jEzM?t=109 (skip to the 1:50 mark to see an example of a phase-to-phase arc)