Power company workers in Jilin province have discovered that they can check 47-kilometers of electric power lines in only 70 minutes by using a helicopter to reach various towns, reports chinajilin.com.cn, on Nov 5, which says that this is the first time for China to employ this technology.

One worker, Lv Qingsen who is in his 50s, says that he has devoted most of his life to Jilin's power supply and used to do these checks once a month and each time had to walk more than 200 km, but now, with the helicopter, he can do a number of checks and film the lines from the air in just a few minutes, making the work more than 50 times quicker than before.

Lv gets aboard the helicopter for his inspection run. [Photo by Wu Ran/chinajilin.com.cn]

Lv checks power lines with infrared equipment. [Photo by Wu Ran/chinajilin.com.cn]

Lv checks power lines from the air. [Photo by Wu Ran/chinajilin.com.cn]

Lu concludes, "GPS technology, infrared detectors, and line patrols by air help us clear up several problem points that I have had to deal with for a long time", then adds that he'll record the work experience in his logbook so that later generations can benefit.