Flying close to powerlines and cell towers?

[Photo]

A year or more ago we could read alot how riscy it was to fly close to high voltage powerlines and that it might cause a crash or fly away. In the internet there are alot of videos showing how to commersially fly drones for powerline inspections etc. What's your view of that? Safe or riscy? As long as you don't fly into the cables ofcourse... And what about flying close to antennas and cell towers?

 

[Steve Carr]

For those people who earn a living doing inspections it becomes a necessity to fly in close. I'm guessing they have some type of protocol they follow to do so. The rule of thumb is to avoid those areas because of the effect it might have on the compass. Perhaps someone who does this routinely will chime in with some insight.

 

[Tuna]

There's two things to consider - how much it might affect the drone, and what the consequences would be if you flew into the powerlines or cell tower.

I've flown within a few hundred metres of a large satellite and cell tower (but not 'in line' with the dishes) and the Typhoon was fine. I've also flown close to high tension lines and still no trouble. However, I wouldn't do it routinely, and wouldn't use anecdotal evidence to say it was safe.

Even there is proven to be no effect at all from these things, you have to consider the chances of a flyaway, or pilot error. I would imagine the bill for bringing down a power line would be... interesting.

 

[Ty Pilot]

Not sure about power lines but I was just watching a series of videos about the topic of tower inspection recently. The owner of a tower inspection and maintenance business, in an interview mentioned that they do a lot of their work at night because some towers cannot be turned off during the day. I am assuming from that conversation that these towers are most likely to be turned off during these inspections. These guys we're the ones who actually climb up on them and change lights and so forth but in one of their videos a UAV is following and very close in all the way up at 1500 feet.

 

[BobW55]

This video pretty much say's it all for power lines.

Watch at about 1:00 when he gets right up on it.
Some radio towers can produce the same affect being that the whole tower is part of the antenna system, and may be energized with thousands of watts of energy, You don't have to touch it to get burned.
Fly at your own risk,

 

[Niblett]

I've had flip overs around radio towers with an F550

 

[PatR]

Every flight near energized cell and power line arrangement is a new flight and should be treated accordingly. Some outfits use "disposable" systems to test for potential interference before breaking out their inspection rigs. There is always risk in these activities. Each has to determine if they can be mitigated or acceptable for making the flight. Systems using WiFi are very high risk near cell towers.

 

[FlushVision]

In the past I've flown close to power lines...only a few yards away, but on rare occasions, and I've had no noticeable issues. It is my understanding that the radiation associated with power lines is of a frequency which will not have a major impact on a flight system...but I won't take that for granted so I will try to avoid them wherever possible.

Cell/transmition towers, on the other hand, I believe a far more capable of spoiling your day, so I won't fly close to them preferring to stay hundreds of yards away.

If I get a brief from a client to do a gig within a couple of hundred meters of a transmitter I will decline it. I believe its not worth the risk to take such a job on.

 

[mcbutler]

Not sure about power lines but I was just watching a series of videos about the topic of tower inspection recently. The owner of a tower inspection and maintenance business, in an interview mentioned that they do a lot of their work at night because some towers cannot be turned off during the day. I am assuming from that conversation that these towers are most likely to be turned off during these inspections. These guys we're the ones who actually climb up on them and change lights and so forth but in one of their videos a UAV is following and very close in all the way up at 1500 feet.

Yes the towers are turned off, this is a 'RADHAZ' procedure. The 'safe to transmit' keys are removed and carried by the ascending worker.
The reason is the effect of the emitted radiation on human tissue.
They H is not human so would not be affected in this way. If you put it dead inline with a powerful transmitting dish you might expect a problem and charge could well build up in the carbon fibre components, I guess an EMP effect might also be a possibility. That would kill your H.

 

[Niblett]

All it is...is EMF...Electro Magnetic Interference....IMO it's best to stay away from towers and wires.

 

[Ty Pilot]

Yes the towers are turned off, this is a 'RADHAZ' procedure. The 'safe to transmit' keys are removed and carried by the ascending worker.
The reason is the effect of the emitted radiation on human tissue.
They H is not human so would not be affected in this way. If you put it dead inline with a powerful transmitting dish you might expect a problem and charge could well build up in the carbon fibre components, I guess an EMP effect might also be a possibility. That would kill your H.

I have a group of these huge 1500 to 2000 foot towers not far from here, but so far the closest I've flown is maybe a quarter mile but don't plan on going closer, don't want to test out any effect that could bring down the H.

BTW here is the video of the UAV going to the top with the climber.

 

[B Scott]

Well I speak from experiance that getting too close is a bad thing OOPS! I did it again.... I lost all contact and had a major fly-away. That said I have also flown under high tension lines in the past without problems. The lines that caused my drone to go bizerk were closer to the ground and therefore closer to my drone though.

 

[PatR]

I've flown very close to both cell and power transmission lines without issue many times but... i always allow that potential for control issues may be present so I "sneak up" on such things slowly, watching carefully for any indications of impending problems.

There was one group of transmission lines at a power station that totally wiped out GPS acquisition until further than 100 meters from the group. Lot's of tower metal at that location as well.

 

[Comtech]

I have flown next to many self supporting towers as I was a radio tech for the State of Washington. LMR sites are not to much of a issue, but the microwave dishes Are! They operate at 5.8 to 18 GHz and if you pass in front of them it will unlock your GPS and possibly fade out the path. Cell sites are another hazard as they use sectored, focused antennas in the GHz range and will most certainty overload the front end of any receiver. I flew a quad with a APM flight controller in stabilize mode, so more or less manual. Didn't have an H back then, but I don't think I would try it.

 

[mwfoshee]

How was flying some real-estate photographs of an old Warehouse, I noticed my H wobbling and flying irratic less than stable. I looked around and I was flying within 10 meters of the three phase electric service for the warehouse, three big transformers,

There was no real issue, I just backed away and avoided the Transformers for the rest of the day.

 

[Wes Watkins]

I've inspected hundreds of cell towers, getting extremely close in most cases. Truthfully, I haven't ever flown my H for inspection purposes because the camera isn't as high resolution as what the data companies require.
I really wouldn't get it near a cell or radio tower. Especially a Verizon or T-Mobile cell antenna RAD. The RF is inane. We use Inspire Pros and we constantly lose connection due to the extreme RF. At first it's a bit nerve wracking to have it completely disconnect but it's just "part of the job" now.
We've had many pilots crash their Inspires due to severe cell RF. The only time I crashed one of my inspires was doing an inspection on an a 800' FM tower. My Inspire went crazy once it got to the top (right in front of the antenna). It immediately lost connection and flew itself into the forest uncontrollably.
Best advice: STAY AWAY from all cell and transmitting antennas!!! Especially Verizon and T-Mobile (and FM towers of course)

 

[ThunderChicken]

The frequency is not the issue when dealing with very high field magnetics. A system can become overwhelmed by the extreme magnetic fields. I have a ham radio that will turn the neighbors touch light on and off and that is with out running a linear amplifier. Just a strong primary signal over load without harmonics involved. Also your transmitter signals can be lost in all of the QRM.(Man Made noise)
The GPS system has to receive and decode a weak signal from the satellites. Some of the power lines produce so much field strength you could power fluorescent light tubes with out any physical electrical connections.
lighting fluorescent tubes near power lines - Bing images

 

[spongella]

Very interesting reading guys, thanks for the input. The experiences of others are very valuable and could prevent future mishaps. As the hobby and industry progresses more useful info will be out there.

 

[Rudder Bug]

Interesting matter; yesterday I went to a power line to get some practice at tower inspection. I have a DJI Phantom 4 and my buddy has a Q500 Typhoon. We elected to takeoff under the cables as the only other way around was a long walk with snow shoes. I offered him to fire off first. He turned his transmitter on and we could hear it buzzing. The drone refused to start. We walked a few yards away and he managed to start the motors, with the transmitter still buzzing. He turned everything off, as wisdom dictates. I got my P4 off with no interference warning and flew all I wanted, flawlessly along the cables and around the tower. Does this mean the Typhoon is more sensible to that kind of interference than the P4? What is the Typhoon frequency range?

 

[PatR]

Means you were lucky. A friend uses a Phantom as a test article before powering up the expensive stuff when working around power lines and transmission towers as it’s the one model that usually has problems first.