Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, October 25, 1994                   TAG: 9410250101
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: CLAUDINE WILLIAMS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

APCO ENLISTS HELP OF AIRBORNE SAW

Hanson isn't an ordinary gardener. His airborne machine resembles a huge hedge trimmer suspended under a helicopter. The 10 roaring blades attached to the 110-foot-long pole chops through branches as easily as electric shears trim a pair of sideburns.

But the unusual looking machine is providing a needed service to Appalachian Power Co. customers. At $1,000 an hour, it can clear as many trees in an hour as a three-man ground crew could in two weeks, said Vickie Ratcliff, an Appalachian Power Co. spokesperson.

The aerial saw is part of Apco's efforts to reduce the number of outages caused by trees falling on power lines in remote areas. Branches growing out into a power line right-of-way often unbalance a tree, and the weight of ice and snow from winter storms can bring trees crashing down onto the lines.

The saw helps the company reach areas that might be difficult or dangerous for a ground crew to reach.

Last winter's ice storms prompted Apco to use the saw almost twice as much this year as it did last year.

Hanson operates the 700-pound saw by guiding it in the direction he wants to cut in. Sometimes the saw has the tendency to get wound up in branches, he said. When that happens, he jiggles the helicopter up and down to free the pole.

Although Hanson flies his saw-wielding helicopter between trees and high-voltage power lines, he says he has no fear. Basically, he says, a forestry supervisor points out overhanging tree limbs and the veteran aerial saw-pilot "goes to it."

Dangers are slight, said Ted McAllister, an Apco forestry specialist.

People think the job is dangerous because they don't see something like it everyday, said Joe Hartung, owner of Aerial Solutions, the Louisiana-based company that owns the saws. "No one thinks of the man who climbs 60 to 70 feet in a tree to cut limbs with a chain saw. The excitement comes from people [who haven't seen] a helicopter doing this kind of work."

Hanson said his job is like any other. On most clear days he battles the wind and trees while operating the small helicopter. "It just takes a little getting used to," he says. He has been operating the airborne saw for about eight years.

Although there is no formal school that instructs pilots on operating the saws, Aerial Solutions can teach an accomplished pilot the basics in about a week's time. The rest, Hanson said, is on-the-job training.

In addition to using the aerial saw, Apco has contracted with more than 200 ground crews to clear power-line right-of-ways.