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APS Crews Use Helicopters to Upgrade Rural Energy Grid
Across Arizona, APS crews bring technical expertise, careful planning and high-level engineering to the work they do year-round to keep the lights on.
In rural parts of the state, power lines and equipment may be inaccessible by road and traverse remote areas of forested and desert land. Hauling utility poles by hand across this difficult terrain can be demanding and time-consuming. That’s where lineworkers get creative and use out of the box solutions to get the job done.
One approach involves collaboration and innovation – and air lift helicopters. In preparation for the summer run, APS crews in the Payson area utilized a Bell 206 helicopter to transport and install two 45-foot power poles near a substation in Flowing Springs connecting to another in Pine. The new power line will help improve service reliability for nearly 730 customers in the area.
To help speed up the work, the poles were strategically staged in Payson near the work site and then flown in.
On the ground, an APS crew worked in conjunction with the helicopter pilot to guide the poles into holes previously dug. Lineworkers then secured them with expandable foam or tightly packed dirt.
"The line crew and the helicopter pilot – working in concert – use hand signals to direct the movements needed to safely set the poles one at a time," said Mike Shaw, Transmission and Distribution Operations and Maintenance Supervisor in Payson. "Together, they align the base of the pole to fit snugly into a 24-inch hole from 100 feet in the air. It is a refined skill and truly an art."
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