Up in the air
We’re adding another tool to help maintain reliable electric service for our customers — drones.
We received Federal Aviation Administration approval back in April to operate drones, also called unmanned aerial vehicles, in our service territory in central and eastern Pennsylvania.
Since then, we’ve been kicking the tires, so to speak, to see how we can best use this technology. Drones can help us inspect our lines as part of our normal maintenance program, and can also check for damage after storms.
We’re excited about the chance to make these new tools work for the benefit of customers. Drones won’t replace existing inspection methods that include manned helicopters and patrols on the ground, but they will be another great option.
The FAA approval has conditions. Among them is that our drones must be operated by licensed pilots and must stay within sight of a drone operator.
We work each day to continue to deliver the reliable electric service you’ve come to expect. We think the drones will help us continue to raise the bar.
Just wondering as a licensed pilot how does one be involved with the drones ? .
thankyou
Drones are awesome I sow one flying and I thought it was an alien.now I now what are they for and is awesome.
Yes. These aircraft are quite helpful but I hesitate using “Drone” as a description for them. A unmanned aircraft with a military mission would be a drone. These quadcopters and hexcopters are a new breed of model aircraft that perform in both the hobby and work worlds. I see no need for FAA or any other government involvement. There is too much already. The video these provide are awesome. Pretty cool….
Was interesting to see the drones in my area, Thompsontown, but when I noticed the drone i was stand 1/2 acre away from our power lines and your drone/PPL truck on road, came 100 feet away from line up where I was. Now at first the noise annoyed me, then I looked up and saw the ppl truck on the road and I waved but then i realized it was kinda far afield from the objective. Next a day or so later, the drone was looking up at my trees.
Now my question is, are you conducting other information gathering for another contractor? Who is it? (FOIA) And who has the rights to images of my property? How can I get copies of those images?
Thank you
Good Afternoon,
We are not conducting or gathering information for another contractor with the use of our drones. We use drones as an efficient method to perform inspection and maintenance work while collecting data about the health of our equipment in the field. The data from drones allows PPL to increase the reliability of our power delivery to our customers and make proactive decisions on system maintenance. The drones are only taking photos of PPL equipment such as our lines, poles, transformers and vegetation. The images are immediately encrypted and transferred to secure storage. We do not provide copies of these images. Only specific PPL employees have access to the images. The practice of using drones for this type of work is becoming common in the utility industry. Thank you for checking with us!