Please be advised that on Wednesday, April 26, 2023, weather permitting, Chesapeake Bay Helicopters will be returning to the JCP&L Region to perform UV/IR patrols on our transmission lines. These inspections are anticipated to take approximately four to five days to complete, but as always, work is weather dependent, and completion could be impeded by any post-storm or outage-related patrols that may occur. The helicopter to be used for these patrols are as follows:
- Blue Bell 2-6 Jet Ranger, Tail number – N719CB - see attached photo
A UV/IR patrol (also known as Infrared & Corona inspection) is similar to a routine visual patrol in terms of patrol speed, but the onboard inspection crew is viewing the transmission line(s) through the infrared and ultraviolet spectrums through specialized cameras. The purpose of a UV/IR patrol is to detect any overheated transmission line components or arcing that isn’t otherwise visible to the naked eye.
It should be noted that the contractor has been authorized to patrol the transmission circuits in their entirety (i.e. "breaker-to-breaker"), so patrols on certain lines may therefore extend into the neighboring regions. The flight crew provides information on their daily location to local airports when in their airspace.
