# swing cut



## Nathan666 (May 1, 2007)

I hope my kid is not playing in that bush!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMQgt5YiD0w[/EMAIL]


----------



## soutz (May 2, 2007)

that is insane.what happens when you get caught up?


----------



## letigre (May 4, 2007)

absolute stupidity! theres no way that using a helicopter would be finacially viable and then theres the butchery... madness


----------



## masiman (May 4, 2007)

letigre said:


> absolute stupidity! theres no way that using a helicopter would be finacially viable and then theres the butchery... madness



I think that the helicopter is probably very financially viable.

What is the alternative? How big of a crew would you need to do that job? How long would it take them? I bet the access to there is not very easy. Add in that they have miles of this stuff to do. Not to mention that it has to be done or the increase in outages and the repairs would go through the roof.

Looks like cost of doing business.


----------



## letigre (May 5, 2007)

masiman said:


> I think that the helicopter is probably very financially viable.
> 
> What is the alternative? How big of a crew would you need to do that job? How long would it take them? I bet the access to there is not very easy. Add in that they have miles of this stuff to do. Not to mention that it has to be done or the increase in outages and the repairs would go through the roof.
> 
> Looks like cost of doing business.



Yeah you're right and you're wrong. 

As im sure you're all aware, theres no substitute for correct pruning and reshaping, where the branch union heals and sugars for growth are sent elsewhere. however hacked branches produce epicormic shoots as a defense mechanism because correct compartmentalisation cannot occur. these grow faster and are much more weakly attached. 

so my point is that in the short term; yes you're right using a helicopter or those 'pizza cutters' (hydralyically driven boom operated circ saws) is very cost effective, but it has to happen almost every 12months (on average), whereas correct pruning, although pricey to start with, will only need to be implemented every 5 years (on average if done correctly) and there is the extra insurance that the tree's health isn't comprimised by butchery and isn't liable to fall in a storm on those humming lines.

you've definitly got a point; "it's the cost of doing business" and as far as anyone can see its not a practise that's going to stop soon (at least in some countries!), but it's nice to think that perhaps someday the butchery will stop and qualified professionals like ourselves will by employed to do what we do best.


----------



## Treeman587 (Jun 1, 2007)

Are you for real? I bet that is probally the most cost effective way. Lets look at how many trees are actually failing from what they are doing. Have you ever seen what line clearance crews do to trees? I thought that was pretty cool myself. Good enough for me to sit there the entire eight minutes.


----------



## clearance (Jun 1, 2007)

Treeman587;683292} Have you ever seen what line clearance crews do to trees? [/QUOTE said:


> Have you ever been on a line clearance crew? And you Letigre, are you a line clearance guy? I think not. This helicopter thing is awesome, I hate that scummy decidous stuff anyways. A much better plan would be to widen the r.o.w. and cut all that overmature skank right down. Here in B.C. level one transmission lines (all the big ones) are kept clear, they are mighty wide. "Qualified professionals like ourselves" Ha ha, ha, qualified to get electrocuted more like, you don't get it, enjoy the electricity you have and be gratefull for guys like me, that keep it on.


----------



## letigre (Jun 2, 2007)

clearance said:


> Have you ever been on a line clearance crew? And you Letigre, are you a line clearance guy? I think not. This helicopter thing is awesome, I hate that scummy decidous stuff anyways. A much better plan would be to widen the r.o.w. and cut all that overmature skank right down. Here in B.C. level one transmission lines (all the big ones) are kept clear, they are mighty wide. "Qualified professionals like ourselves" Ha ha, ha, qualified to get electrocuted more like, you don't get it, enjoy the electricity you have and be gratefull for guys like me, that keep it on.



i suppose you prune trees with spurs on too? oh only on the scummy ones tho. each to his own mate. i may not have the experience clearing lines as you do, and if i develop such an apathy for trees as a result, i dont want it anyway. excuse me for expressing the desire to prune a tree correctly and noting that it is a shame that trees arent given a high amenity value i.e. choosing the most cost effective means possible at the cost of the tree. i wasnt arguing that they shouldnt be given a wide berth like they are in b.c. just that they like all beings be given some dignity. 

was i wrong in assuming you were a qualified professional clearance? was i wrong in assuming that you'd prefer high paid speciality work to getting kicks watching flying butchery madness? i sincerly apologise if so.


----------



## clearance (Jun 2, 2007)

letigre said:


> i suppose you prune trees with spurs on too? oh only on the scummy ones tho. each to his own mate. i may not have the experience clearing lines as you do, and if i develop such an apathy for trees as a result, i dont want it anyway. excuse me for expressing the desire to prune a tree correctly and noting that it is a shame that trees arent given a high amenity value i.e. choosing the most cost effective means possible at the cost of the tree. i wasnt arguing that they shouldnt be given a wide berth like they are in b.c. just that they like all beings be given some dignity.
> 
> was i wrong in assuming you were a qualified professional clearance? was i wrong in assuming that you'd prefer high paid speciality work to getting kicks watching flying butchery madness? i sincerly apologise if so.



Yes, I prune trees with spurs, like every other utility guy in this province does too. I am qualified to work around high voltage power, and not an ISA utility specialist either, properly trained I mean. See, Letigre, and others for that matter, in the utility world, the power comes first, it has to. When I prune for clearance on distribution lines or smaller transmission lines I do make proper cuts, it is required. But you should realize that there are transmission lines for thousands of miles, just in this province, across some really difficult terrain. It only makes sense that the utilities will experiment and try different methods, nothing wrong with that. On a side note, my buddy had to rescue a smaller version of this saw when it got caught in a tree and had to be left there. Soutz, they is an "abort" lever the pilot can pull, just like on a logging helicopter.


----------



## letigre (Jun 3, 2007)

*qualified to electrocute!!!!*

hahah! hypocrisy! i dont know why i even bothered getting hot under the collar! tapping right into the vascular cambium with litres and litres of water! enjoy your madness mate.


----------



## JimL (Jun 3, 2007)

Do you realize how much more your electricity would cost if they had to have manual crews do all that work? Granted it would be simple trimming with no overhang to pull but it would still be very time consuming..


----------



## letigre (Jun 4, 2007)

your right jim, the time spent doing the right thing would be massive, but by doing proper prunes and retraining epicormic shoots, the work would be greatly decreased the next time at a longer interval ie going from every 12mths to every 3-5 years and then decreasing at an exponential rate until you have 20% of the original work to do every 5 years.NB this it not just my opinions it is proven and published by more intelligable ppl than myself and the figures i present are merely approximates obviously results are subject to change by climate, species vigor, habit and so on. but this the ideal behind utility work in australia and even the dodgy efforts and prunes that some mobs offer, still have quite positive results and theres no [email protected]#king helicopters to be seen. my experience in powerline work is minimal, but the amount of trees ive pruned and the amount of trees ive witnessed heal, is well in the hundreds, including work from guys in utilities. 

and if all else fails and they are such scungy trees as clearance says, spend the money to start with and remove them and give them some dignity.


----------



## letigre (Jun 4, 2007)

oh and subcontracting bodies to utilities in aus spend days out in the scrub in climbing crews doing the right thing in situations not dissimilar to the one in the video. just so you dont all think im a mad idealist. the money is obiviously available here for correct pruning, although i do know ppl within these contracts that think spiking prunes is exceptable and my boss teaches a great deal of them. we call them pirates.:biggrinbounce2:


----------



## nytreeman (Jun 4, 2007)

Nathan666 said:


> I hope my kid is not playing in that bush!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMQgt5YiD0w[/EMAIL]



imagine just sitting there,dum dee dum.....hey....*whats that buzzing noise??*


----------



## clearance (Jun 4, 2007)

letigre said:


> oh and subcontracting bodies to utilities in aus spend days out in the scrub in climbing crews doing the right thing in situations not dissimilar to the one in the video. just so you dont all think im a mad idealist. the money is obiviously available here for correct pruning, although i do know ppl within these contracts that think spiking prunes is exceptable and my boss teaches a great deal of them. we call them pirates.:biggrinbounce2:



I'm a pirate I guess, there are reasons all the utility guys use spurs here, safety and production. But like you say, "my experience in powerline work is mininmal..." So there you go, some guy who isn't qualified to do the work, has little understanding of the realities and is oblivious to the main point which is keeping the power on. Pretty typical here, and out in the real world as well, some know-it-all mouthing off.


----------



## ShoerFast (Jun 4, 2007)

That aircraft is owned by Aerial Solutions , from North Carolina, it is a Hughes 369D ,with a 250 HP allison, (same engine as a Bell 206) cost to run is around $500 an hour (give or take) , But your not going to do that kind or work for an hourly rate, actual cost would be a lot more.

Helicopters are only efficient if just about every other means possible has been exhausted, but here is a hint, if you car reach it from the ground, it will be cheaper from the ground.

It is very hard to imagine that a good crew , from the ground could not easily be a cheaper solution. And it has been mentioned how much better job the ground crew could do. Just one example, the helicopter can only take out a tree once!

It would be a fun to race an aerial crew. That hellicopter is 27 years old, relibility will start to be a factor also.


----------



## clearance (Jun 4, 2007)

Thanks for that information Shoe.


----------



## letigre (Jun 4, 2007)

thanks shoe, valuable info.


----------



## bowtechmadman (Jun 5, 2007)

I don't know squat about epicormic shoots (whatever they are), but I do know the saw is badddddddd! Darn cool video.
I guess agent orange wouldn't be a good idea either.


----------



## FiftytoOne (Jun 5, 2007)

Nathan666 said:


> I hope my kid is not playing in that bush!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMQgt5YiD0w[/EMAIL]



CRAZY Brother!!!!!!!!!111


----------



## newguy18 (Jul 3, 2007)

Nathan666 said:


> I hope my kid is not playing in that bush!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMQgt5YiD0w[/EMAIL]



Definatly not good for the trees but awesome none the less.for that video i will rep you.


----------



## ropensaddle (Apr 25, 2018)

letigre said:


> Yeah you're right and you're wrong.
> 
> As im sure you're all aware, theres no substitute for correct pruning and reshaping, where the branch union heals and sugars for growth are sent elsewhere. however hacked branches produce epicormic shoots as a defense mechanism because correct compartmentalisation cannot occur. these grow faster and are much more weakly attached.
> 
> ...


12 months is incorrect they will get minimum 5 years from this line clearance. Having spent over 2 decade in the utility industry I can tell you I have not seen one tree trimmed as trimming and pruning are different from line clearing.


----------

