Williamstown and Wiconisco near Dauphin County, Pennsylvania
Overhead Transmission Line Documentation
Construction Video and Photography Documentation
September 2020
ALL PRO USA traveled to Williamstown, near Harrisburg and Dauphin County Pennsylvania to complete this project. The project was a overhead transmission line that needed documentation before the contractor started replacing the towers. The first part of the project was about 126 existing structures and was documented in three ways. The first two went hand in hand, the team took turns walking the line to document the towers from the ground. They did this utilizing handheld video and still photography. For the video it was shot handheld. The handheld still photography was shot using a Canon 5D Mark IV. The third form of documentation was aerial videography. Utilizing a DJI Mavic 2 Pro the team documented the towers from the air for the entire length of the line. Throughout the project all members of the team wore high visibility vests as well as hats to ensure the safety of the team.
Construction Video
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As stated above the ground level documentation was completed using two cameras. This allowed the team to split the documentation in half. One member of the team focused on the video documentation using the Nikon Z6 and the gimbal, while the other focused on the still photography with the Canon 5D Mark IV. The documentation from the ground was completed by walking the line from start to finish. We started at the Williamstown Sub Station and went to the Sub Station that was in the town of Wiconisco near the fire department. To ensure that the team did not have to do unnecessary walking and to keep the teams energy up to complete the job in a timely manner, we utilized a three person team. Using the plans we picked meeting points where the line was accessible by vehicle. This allowed for the team to take on large portions of the documentation from ground level without tiring themselves out.
Once we completed the ground level documentation from start to finish we revisited parts of the line to supplement the documentation that we already captured with video and photos from our drone. We utilized our DJI Mavic Pro 2 drone to capture areas that were either inaccessible from the ground or would benefit from a different angle for the documentation. For the flights we had one of our FAA certified drone pilots operate the controls of the drone while the other acted as the Visual Observer to ensure that there were not hazards in the flight path of the drone. A challenge that this job presented was the terrain that the transmission lines crossed made it difficult for the Visual Observer and the Remote Pilot in Command to be right next to each other during the flight. To solve this we used radio communication to ensure that the RPIC and the VO were in constant communication when they could not be side by side. This allowed for safe operation of the drone and for the capture of some high quality and unique angles of the transmission line.
Once we completed the ground level documentation from start to finish we revisited parts of the line to supplement the documentation that we already captured with video and photos from our drone. We utilized our DJI Mavic Pro 2 drone to capture areas that were either inaccessible from the ground or would benefit from a different angle for the documentation. For the flights we had one of our FAA certified drone pilots operate the controls of the drone while the other acted as the Visual Observer to ensure that there were not hazards in the flight path of the drone. A challenge that this job presented was the terrain that the transmission lines crossed made it difficult for the Visual Observer and the Remote Pilot in Command to be right next to each other during the flight. To solve this we used radio communication to ensure that the RPIC and the VO were in constant communication when they could not be side by side. This allowed for safe operation of the drone and for the capture of some high quality and unique angles of the transmission line.
The final portion of this project that needed documentation was the access roads that would be used to access different portions of the line that would be worked on. These were documented in two ways, when they were not accessible by vehicle the team walked the access areas to ensure that they were properly documented. The equipment used for this were the Nikon Z6 on the gimbal and the Canon 5D Mark IV. When they were accessible by the vehicle we used a video camera mounted to our RAM 1500 truck to document the access routes. In these areas one member of the team would get our and capture the still photography with the Canon camera while the other two team members operated the truck mounted camera. The way that we set this up lets us view the documentation that is happening on a monitor inside the vehicle and also control the camera via remote control inside the vehicle. The other member of the team is then in charge of ensuring safe operation of the vehicle. This allows for a unique angle because of the elevation of the camera above the truck. Once the documentation was completed the team returned back to Pittsburgh to edit the project. The team provided the contractor with digital and physical media for them to view. The Video was uploaded to Vimeo and the photos were uploaded to Smug Mug. In addition to this we provided the contractor with two USB hard drives so that contractor has physical copies of the project on hand as well.
