NEW JERSEY – Jersey Central Power and Light (JCP&L) will be performing Helicopter patrols of our transmission lines beginning March 3 through approximately March 24, weather permitting.
Haverfield Helicopter will be mobilizing and will begin performing routine patrols on all 115KV, 230KV and 500kV transmission lines. The patrols are expected to take approximately 2 weeks to complete but as always, completion can be impeded due to inclement weather and any patrol work related to outages and/or storm restoration.
The following helicopters will be used for the routine patrols:
- A black and silver, Hughes MD500 with tail registration number N774CB
- A blue, Bell Jet Ranger with tail registration number N719CB
A routine patrol is a general, overall look at the transmission line, right-of-way, structures, and all associated hardware where the inspection crew is trying to look for any obvious/outstanding maintenance conditions. A Routine Patrol is typically flown around 25-30 knots (30-35mph) but the helicopter may be seen hovering or circling structures or spans of a transmission line to get a better look at any conditions found during the patrol(s).
The contractor has been authorized to patrol the transmission circuits in their entirety (i.e. “breaker-to-breaker”), so patrols on certain lines may therefore extend into the neighboring regions. The flight crew provides information on their daily location to both FE Transmission Lines Maintenance and the FCC, and the pilot will be in communication with any local airports when in their airspace.
