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  1. #11

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    In 1961 our company had very few bucket trucks, so we would have climbed one of the poles and spliced one end of a new span length of conductor to the tail of the conductor on that pole. do that to all the damaged conductors, go to the other pole and pull them up, get them all sagged and splice them on the 2nd pole. Course there's gonna have to be some temp. guying in this also cause the wood poles would be aleaning a bit. don;t know why they weren't broke. Ain't much difference than a big tree falling down thru the line. On the ground is on the ground don't matter how it got there.
    Just researched Fl. 706 Graig, You do a good job on the re-enactment video on You- Tube
    Last edited by polehiker; 06-25-2018 at 08:50 PM.
    "Growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional."

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    Thanks. Your boots-on-the-ground feedback gives me a feel for how it may have gone. I've got a 1964 Lineman & Cableman's Handbook on order from the library.

    We've gone round and round on this on an airplane site, some arguing that the power company would have been careful to measure the breaks. My take on it was that the company would have done the measurements if asked, but probably not as a matter of course.

    In a month or so I'll be publishing another version of my analysis. It will probably be my last one - don't seem to have any more courses of exploration. I'll put a note here when it's available.

  3. #13
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    Interested to see your analysis. I can say that my first priority would be getting wire back up and the circuits restored. Im not sure why the power co. Would “carefully measure” the wire.

    The NWA 706 crash info I found said that one wing severed the lines, very surprising that there was no damage reported to the adjacent structures. The Lockeed 188 wasn’t a small plane.......
    "It is not the critic who counts:The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena" Teddy Roosevelt

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    I've posted my latest version free download at https://we.tl/t-fAImBr89yK

    It's also on Amazon as "The Crash of Flight 706", but I don't want your money, so do the free download.

    I appreciate your filling in how it would look to a lineman. It's not a major part of my report, but you'll know it when you see it.

    thanks

    Craig

  5. #15
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    I downloaded your PDF, I have to say that I was taken aback as I read that your father was the pilot on the plane. If I would have know that, I wouldn’t have been so blunt in some of my replies. From the photos of the lines, it appears to be double Xarm double circuit construction. I would have thought there would have been damage to at least the Xarms if not the poles.

    I did not read your entire analysis as yet, but I will. Condolences on the loss of your dad. My father was an aviator in WWII as a flight engineer on a B - 24. He was reactivated for the Korean War, funny thing was, after he mustered out he never set foot on a plane again the rest of his life.
    "It is not the critic who counts:The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena" Teddy Roosevelt

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    What you describe sounds like a typical 34.5 kv double circuit line. These are all around O'Hare on 65foot wood poles. Typical spans were 200 to 300 feet. At that time such a line would use 2, 1/0 or 3/0 copper or 266.8 AAC or ACSR or 477 AAC. Since there was no appearant damage to poles, I would guess the conductors would be on the smaller side as bigger wire is harder to break and would likely break a couple of poles at least. As a metal object, like a plane, hits the wires it would cause a short with lots of arcing and burning. This would cause the wires to burn in two rather than snap. As for repairs....Bucket trucks were few and far between in 1961. The ones that were around would have had limited reach. Repairs would be done "off the pole" by cutting out the damaged section of wire. Then adding new wire by splicing it on the ground with enough to reach one pole. Then working off the pole, linemen would sag and splice the other end. This would be done as soon as any investigating authorities allowed. My best guess...I was 3 at the time.

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