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realspongesociety t1_iudo38h wrote

Based on the registration, this is the same helicopter that was apparently conducting powerline inspection; taking high-resolution images of all components... hovering low above Amtrak rails west of Newark, DE back in late 2020. It may be doing the same thing now.

That said, u/relampagos_shawty may be onto something. New season of railways gone wild coming next fall, maybe?

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eastaleph OP t1_iudpl9b wrote

I appreciate this - both your research and what they're doing. There probably isn't a better time since during the week a lot of people wfh.

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TrafficSNAFU t1_iudpise wrote

That makes sense, a few weeks ago Amtrak was having a helicopter doing inspection work of the NEC in the vicinity of North Brunswick.

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RKO36 t1_iufxk4d wrote

Very interesting. I've seen PSE&G fly a helicopter very, very low in a similar fashion. They'll fly over the transmission towers and inspect them. Sometimes a guy has to reach out and touch the wires with a metal rod to insulate the helicopter so they can get right next to the wires and fix things.

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Anonymous1985388 t1_iudsh6r wrote

Interesting but wouldn't drones be a better and more cost effective way to do this?

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