More Helicopter Friday

I have linked to this one before but am embedding it because it is so cool. It is also here with disabled embedding. Here is an article. Here is an excerpt (different article):

SCOTT YENZER, 40 Founder Haverfield Corp.

In 1983, Scott Yenzer had a helicopter flying service, patrolling power lines in Florida. He also had a crazy idea: If a bird could land on a power line without blowing up, why couldn't he? At the time, power companies had to either shut off the current or dispatch workers in insulated cherry pickers to repair big transmission lines. If repairs could be made from a helicopter, inaccessible lines would be easy to maintain. But could you pack 500,000 volts into a chopper without blowing up the gas tanks? Without frying the aircraft's electrical system? Or the pilot? One morning Yenzer flew out to a big line. He braced himself as the chopper approached the wire. Ppffsszzt. An arc of electricity leaped from Yenzer's helmet microphone into his lip. Another struck his leg. Another bit into his ear. But the chopper had not exploded. "I thought, If this is as bad as it gets, it's okay," he says. "I can work it out." Yenzer has since evolved methods of maintaining power lines safely from the air and does so for more than 100 utilities.