Blackout by drone?

[Cmick1972]

And how did a 3in plastic propeller cut through 2inches of insulated metal wire?

No doubt! Have you seen the cutters required to go through a line like that? They aren’t plastic. I have accidentally hit my finger with my drone blade, and I didn’t even need stitches. I call BS on this one!

 

[dronerdave]

Yes a small drone can bring down a power line. Birds bring down lines daily throughout the world. I get a laugh when people outside the electrical industry make comments like thinking all lines are coated with insulation or so large they can't be easily damaged. The fact is many distribution line wire isn't insulated and a typical copper #6 wire isn't much larger than pencil lead. Yes it is very strong but slack wire is common and what happens is many times it burns down when something pushes one phase into another. Boom, the wire goes down. I've had kids with kites get tangled up and with all the pulling trying to get the kite loose, they burn down the wire. A funny incident was when a golfer drove his ball into a wire and burned down the line. He was a manager at the power utility I work for. Just because some circuits are insulated or large enough to withstand some of the largest drone impacts, it doesn't mean all lines are built that way.

Did this happen? Who knows? Can it happen heck yeah.

 

[Bill combs]

no pictures it didn't happen LOL

more fake news

 

[BigAl07]

Yes a small drone can bring down a power line. Birds bring down lines daily throughout the world. I get a laugh when people outside the electrical industry make comments like thinking all lines are coated with insulation or so large they can't be easily damaged. The fact is many distribution line wire isn't insulated and a typical copper #6 wire isn't much larger than pencil lead. Yes it is very strong but slack wire is common and what happens is many times it burns down when something pushes one phase into another. Boom, the wire goes down. I've had kids with kites get tangled up and with all the pulling trying to get the kite loose, they burn down the wire. A funny incident was when a golfer drove his ball into a wire and burned down the line. He was a manager at the power utility I work for. Just because some circuits are insulated or large enough to withstand some of the largest drone impacts, it doesn't mean all lines are built that way.

Did this happen? Who knows? Can it happen heck yeah.

Well said Dave. It's nice to have a SME on board to give some credible Real-World input.

To be honest, I'd have to have difinitve proof (aircraft damage, video, credible eye witness) to believe that it DID happen but I fully believe that in the right circumstances it COULD/CAN happen.

 

[AMann]

There is a way that even our M2P’s could do it, but I’m not going to post it online. I personally learned how to do it while flying a kite in 6th grade.

And @dronerdave - as you know, not even a 69Kv line on high towers is impervious to the awesome destructive power
of a sixth grader wielding a simple kite!

 

[ac0j]

It’s nice to have that “anything is possible” frame of mind when flying our small plastic toys. It would dramatically affect safety. BUT realistically people are too quick to think tiny camera drones are weapons of mass destruction. There are TONS of accusations and expectations yet almost no proof.

 

[dronerdave]

To tell the truth I'm surprised something like this hasn't happened yet. It is difficult at times to find the real cause of an outage. Someone slapping wire together can bring down wire miles away from where the contact was actually made. Hopefully you'll find the cause when you patrol the line. Even an out of control Syma could cause damage in the right circumstances. I could see a dumb kid pulling a stunt. But I agree that in the real world it would take all the right parameters and some basic knowledge of power systems to purposely cause a major outage. The deal is if I tried to hit a moving plane in the air with my MP, it would probably be as difficult as winning the lotto to actually make contact. Hitting a target that doesn't move would be much easier. It happened to me... my first encounter with switching to sport mode ended up almost as a crashed MP. I was filming a run through a canyon wash and had a tail wind. Bringing my quad back home I was testing for top speed to see what she could do. Well the brakes didn't quite react as quickly as I thought. I flew right into a 69kV transmission line. My quad hit and bounced off the line. It caught the rear landing gear extension and I saw it drop along with my mavic. Freaking out that I just lost over a 1000 bucks, I hit full up and seconds later my quad came flying up out of the canyon. Had to quickly learn how to hand catch it because the rear landing gear was down in the canyon. No damage to my Mavic, but we had to hike down in the canyon where the landing gear and firehouse strobe ended up. The way this particular line was built there was no way I could have brought that type of construction down or even relayed it with my quad.

I will say that with respect to power lines that Mylar balloons unintentionally cause more havoc than any drone has (or probably will) and you never see the news media blowing those out of proportion because they're fun, pretty colorful objects you give to kids. Those balloons cost the electrical industry thousands each year... birds even more.

As far as the media goes, it's not true reporting anymore. All it would take is some stupid neighbor who hates quads to speculate the outage was cause by someone flying a drone in the area. All the reporter sees it as is click bait for his/her article. So as far as the article posted, there's a good chance it's just sensationalism but I'd never say a small quad can't cause an electrical outage.

 

[AMann]

To tell the truth I'm surprised something like this hasn't happened yet. It is difficult at times to find the real cause of an outage. Someone slapping wire together can bring down wire miles away from where the contact was actually made. Hopefully you'll find the cause when you patrol the line. Even an out of control Syma could cause damage in the right circumstances. I could see a dumb kid pulling a stunt. But I agree that in the real world it would take all the right parameters and some basic knowledge of power systems to purposely cause a major outage. The deal is if I tried to hit a moving plane in the air with my MP, it would probably be as difficult as winning the lotto to actually make contact. Hitting a target that doesn't move would be much easier. It happened to me... my first encounter with switching to sport mode ended up almost as a crashed MP. I was filming a run through a canyon wash and had a tail wind. Bringing my quad back home I was testing for top speed to see what she could do. Well the brakes didn't quite react as quickly as I thought. I flew right into a 69kV transmission line. My quad hit and bounced off the line. It caught the rear landing gear extension and I saw it drop along with my mavic. Freaking out that I just lost over a 1000 bucks, I hit full up and seconds later my quad came flying up out of the canyon. Had to quickly learn how to hand catch it because the rear landing gear was down in the canyon. No damage to my Mavic, but we had to hike down in the canyon where the landing gear and firehouse strobe ended up. The way this particular line was built there was no way I could have brought that type of construction down or even relayed it with my quad.

I will say that with respect to power lines that Mylar balloons unintentionally cause more havoc than any drone has (or probably will) and you never see the news media blowing those out of proportion because they're fun, pretty colorful objects you give to kids. Those balloons cost the electrical industry thousands each year... birds even more.

As far as the media goes, it's not true reporting anymore. All it would take is some stupid neighbor who hates quads to speculate the outage was cause by someone flying a drone in the area. All the reporter sees it as is click bait for his/her article. So as far as the article posted, there's a good chance it's just sensationalism but I'd never say a small quad can't cause an electrical outage.

Yup, what parent woulda known that the beautiful, long-tailed mylar dragon kite that they gave to their son for his 12th birthday was going to become a 69Kv electric filament hotter than the surface of the sun for a few milliseconds with their kid holding the other end of the string? Would they have let him fly it on that fateful day when half of the city was going to be blacked out because of it, including the station of the police and fire department that responded to the report of all those burning embers falling on the players at the tennis court near the power line? And would they’ve let their kid do it knowing of the two Edison crews with bucket trucks having to respond to repair the damaged lines? I hope not! Anyways, yes, there are ways someone with a drone even smaller than a Mavic could turn out the city lights, and a wire collision is not a part of it.

 

[dronerdave]

Oops! Heck of a light show for sure.

 

[Thomas B]

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.”

Bull! Just sells papers at expense of our group!
Heard the headline I want to read, “antidrone report in tabloid found to be a slanderous lie to mislead the public!”

 

[AMann]

Oops! Heck of a light show for sure.

Great 60hz sound effects too!

 

[Grantt]

A drone has caused a blackout in Kingsley after it crashed into powerlines. Expert Mahmood.....

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=836871950015222

Drone causes blackout in Kingsley after bringing down powerlines

Drone causes blackout after bringing down powerlines

Power was cut to 3000 homes in Kingsley after a drone crashed into powerlines just after 7pm on Tuesday night.

thewest.com.au

 

[Bigbird48]

A drone has caused a blackout in Kingsley after it crashed into powerlines. Expert Mahmood.....

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=836871950015222

Drone causes blackout in Kingsley after bringing down powerlines

Drone causes blackout after bringing down powerlines

Power was cut to 3000 homes in Kingsley after a drone crashed into powerlines just after 7pm on Tuesday night.

thewest.com.au

again its speculation, weres the drone , weres the proof. just news thats BS guilty till proven innocent

 

[Thomas B]

A drone has caused a blackout in Kingsley after it crashed into powerlines. Expert Mahmood.....

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=836871950015222

Drone causes blackout in Kingsley after bringing down powerlines

Drone causes blackout after bringing down powerlines

Power was cut to 3000 homes in Kingsley after a drone crashed into powerlines just after 7pm on Tuesday night.

thewest.com.au

More sensationalism. Where’s the drone? I used to work for Houston Power and Light. Those wires are multi stranded and at least 1/2” diameter, maybe as much as 1”. A little plastic propeller won’t cut them, and if by some chance a conductor within the drone contacted the current and it was able to see ground ( required for electricity to move)... and I doubt this due to separation of the lines, the drones tiny conductors would vaporize long before any discernible damage occurred to the wires.
More fertilizer fished out at our expense to sell commercials.

 

[dronerdave]

Although I feel this could be media hype, I'd have to see the line before I could comment if it was possible that a drone could of caused the incident. Very inaccurate to post you know what type of construction went down unless you were the troubleshooter on the scene. I would never put in my report that I think a drone took the line out unless I actually saw it, found pieces of one, or had multiple customers witness it (explain the strike). There are numerous other ways this could have happened including a bird, kite, Mylar balloon, even a friggin squirrel but it's all moot because of people speculating about if a drone cause this outage. First hand experience with the media has taught me to stay clear of them when they show up to a scene. They'll spin anything you say to get results.
But from my point of view it's also easy to see if people actually know about power lines when they comment here. Not to offend anybody but to me it's the same as the inaccurate media posts. No problem thinking this article could be hype, just don't think it could never happen cause you'd be showing your crappy poker hand.

 

[MavicFT1P]

is the drone ok?

 

[Thomas B]

is the drone ok?

What drone?

 

[MavicFT1P]

Expert Mamhoud? LoL

 

[AMann]

Expert Mamhoud? LoL

Thread closes in 3..2..

 

[BD0G]

I think there are those on this forum that are the experts and some guy regurgitating what came over the teleprompter is far from an expert. Laughable!