Bell 206A JetRanger, N1431W: Eversource helicopter to do Greenwich equipment checks

C-PAN Aero LLC: http://registry.faa.gov/N1431W


GREENWICH — Eversource Energy will be running aerial inspections of electrical equipment throughout the state and has alerted Greenwich residents.

The utility will be using a blue and silver helicopter with a tail number of N1431W to check its high-voltage electrical equipment on right of ways in Greenwich and elsewhere in Greenwich. The helicopter is equipped with heat-sensing, infrared scanning technology which is used to detect potentially harmful equipment issues before they occur.

Eversource released the announcement on Thursday and said flights would take place through July 26. No official time for when it expects to be going through Greenwich has been announced because it is all dependent on the weather as well as wind speed and how quickly the utility can get through the other parts of the state it is checking.

Spokesman Frank Poirot said they wanted people to be aware of the helicopter so people would not be concerned if they saw it flying over the high-voltage equipment. The flights are done by the utility several times a year to check on various issues. In March Eversource did helicopter flights in Greenwich to monitor trees and vegetation and make sure it wasn’t growing too close to transmission lines.

Flights will take place, weather permitting, throughout the state between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. The flight has nothing to do with the ongoing process from the Connecticut Siting Council about whether Eversource can build a new substation on Railroad Avenue to connect to its Cos Cob substation.

The helicopters will have three people on board them, the pilot, a transmission line specialist and an infrared imagery specialist.

In addition to Greenwich, Eversource will also be checking equipment in Andover, Beacon Falls, Berlin, Bethany, Bethel, Bethlehem, Bloomfield, Bozrah, Branford, Bristol, Brookfield, Brooklyn, Canton, Chaplin, Cheshire, Chester, Columbia, Coventry, Danbury, Darien, Deep River, Durham, East Granby, East Haddam, East Hartford, East Haven, East Lyme, East Windsor, Ellington, Essex, Farmington, Franklin, Glastonbury, Granby, Guilford, Haddam, Hamden, Hampton, Hartford, Harwinton, Hebron, Killingly, Lebanon, Ledyard, Litchfield, Lyme, Manchester, Mansfield, Meriden, Middlebury, Middlefield, Middletown, Milford, Monroe, Montville, Naugatuck, New Hartford, New Milford, Newington, Newtown, North Branford, North Stonington, Norwalk, Old Saybrook, Orange, Oxford, Plymouth, Pomfret, Portland, Putnam, Redding, Ridgefield, Rocky Hill, Roxbury, Salisbury, Shelton, Simsbury, Somers, South Windsor, Southington, Stamford, Suffield, Thomaston, Thompson, Wallingford, Washington, Waterbury, Waterford, Watertown, Westport, Wethersfield, Wilton, Windham, Windsor, Wolcott, Woodbridge and Woodbury.

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