One of the three helicopters that will be flying over the Goulburn Valley in the coming weeks.
There’s no need to let a low-flying helicopter stroke your paranoia over the coming weeks, as the big metal birds flying overhead have quite a procedural reason for running laps in our skies.
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Rest assured, they’re here to remove problems, not cause them.
It’s a proactive flock sent by Powercor, which uses Light Detection and Ranging, known as LiDAR, to scan distances between powerlines and vegetation, so crews can be sent to cut trees back before they pose a fire threat.
The choppers fly at low altitude — about 300m — which has been known to send the rumour mill on the ground into overdrive.
The powerline scanning, however, is part of Powercor’s year-round bushfire mitigation and vegetation management program and no cause for concern.
The LiDAR data helps Powercor create 3D models of powerlines and their surroundings to identify trees that need to be cut.
The LiDAR data helps Powercor create 3D models of powerlines and their surroundings, helping to identify vegetation that needs maintenance.
Powercor head of vegetation management Ayce Cordy said accurate measuring annually was important.
“Inspecting and managing vegetation growing near powerlines is an essential part of how we keep power safe and reliable for our customers,” Mr Cordy said.
“By capturing data every year, we can track growth rates of vegetation across our network, helping us plan where to cut right now and when we may need to conduct cutting in the future.”
The helicopters took flight on Tuesday, May 13, and will continue until the end of the month, scanning powerlines between Yarrawonga, Murchison and Elmore.
Powercor uses a fleet of three choppers, including one Bell 407 helicopter and two Bell 505 helicopters, each with one pilot and one LiDAR operator on board.
While the choppers can fly up to 260km/h and 232kh/h respectively, they cruise at a slower speed of 129km/h to capture 1TB of accurate LiDAR data per aircraft each day.
The trio of aircraft’s crews inspect 100 per cent of more than 77,000km of powerlines across western Victoria.
Powercor cutting teams are authorised to enter private property to cut trees back from powerlines, as well as work on public land across its network.
Teams will notify private property owners of required cutting at their addresses where possible, but Powercor says it isn’t always able to provide advance notice when urgent cutting is needed.
Powercor distributes electricity to around 930,000 customers — or more than 1.75 million Victorians — across the western suburbs of Melbourne and through central and western Victoria to the South Australian and NSW borders.
