Drivers Take Note: Helicopter Sightings Near Highway 90 Related to Entergy Improvements

Beaumont, Texas – If you drive along Highway 90 this week, you may spot a helicopter hovering over the 60- to 70-foot tall electrical towers just south of the highway. Take a closer look and you’ll also see workers perched carefully – and safely – atop structures the helicopter is flying toward.

Entergy officials say there’s no need for concern. The helicopter is being used to remove older-style wooden cross arms from the high-voltage transmission line towers. The cross arms will then be replaced with newer, more reliable galvanized steel cross arms that are less susceptible to weather conditions. The cross arms, both the wooden and the steel variety, weigh about 400 pounds and are lifted to and from the towers by helicopter. Workers perched on the towers do the actual replacement work.

“The speed and ease of installation is the greatest benefit of using the helicopter,” explained Clyde Reeves, transmission manager in the Entergy Texas service area. “A ground crew normally installs and transfers three to four cross arms per day, while a helicopter crew installs and transfers eight to 12 cross arms in the same amount of time. The helicopter eliminates job delays involved with ground conditions such as mud, brush or trees.”

Reeves added that use of the helicopter also eliminates damage to property from land-based operations that would have to reach the towers by truck.

Entergy’s Transmission Line 424 runs between Raywood and China, parallel to and south of Highway 90. The line carries 138-kilovolts of power and supplies electricity to the Raywood Substation where it is “stepped down” to a lower voltage and sent out through the company’s distribution system. The distribution system consists of the poles and wires commonly seen along roadways and delivers electricity to homes and businesses.

 Entergy has contracted with AIR II, a company that owns the helicopter and also has linemen specially trained for this kind of work.

The project on Line 424, which also includes replacing insulators on the line, will continue for about seven days as work is completed on 50 structures along an 18-mile section of line. After that, AIR II crews will move on to Corrigan where they will work begin a similar project on 75 structures for another transmission line. The project represents an investment of $150,000 in service reliability improvements. Entergy has invested more than $350 million in the Texas portion of its transmission system over the past six years.

Entergy Texas provides electricity to 380,000 customers in 24 counties.  It is a subsidiary of Entergy Corporation. Entergy Corporation is an integrated energy company engaged primarily in electric power production and retail distribution operations. Entergy owns and operates power plants with approximately 30,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity, and it is the

-more-

 second-largest nuclear generator in the United States. Entergy delivers electricity to 2.7 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.