On Mon, 28 Jan 2008 21:08:38 +0000,it is alleged that Andy Champ
spake thusly in uk.d-i-y:

I reckon it's AC.

After he's clipped on and climbed onto the wire, he pulls the clip off
and the chopper flies off. How could it *not* be at line voltage after
being clipped on?

OTOH, if the line was running AC at an appreciable voltage you'd need a
current flow to charge/discharge the helicopter-capacitor with each cycle.

The arc on departure runs to a couple of feet. IIRC 1000V per inch - so
the line is at 24kV plus. I can't say *how* much plus, the chopper
isn't earthed very well...


Andy

Judging by the shot of the long string of cap and pin insulators
visible at the end, somewhere in the low hundreds of kV

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