Aspiring Lineman: Week 2!

Week 2, Day 1. Today we had our first real classes: Electrical Systems, and Linework Fundamentals. It seems like they paired the hard class with the easy class (the easy class being LF), perhaps so we can focus more mental energy on the hard one. (as opposed to two difficult classes at once). Ok, enough school work, on to the fun stuff.

We got to work hot sticks,


McCormack using the hot stick

We got to run the hydraulic trucks,

Me on a truck

And we got to roll up handlines!

Not the winner of the best handline contest, but I'm still proud of it

Finally, we had another crew against crew contest...


Cut a piece of #4 Aluminum (one handed), then 3 lifts in 3 minutes. Finally, cycle to the next guy. The winning crew did it in 5 minutes total (4 guys)...

So on Thursday, we had that "field trip" i was talking about. It was very informative and entertaining. To surmise, you can see things with thermal imaging you wouldn't be able to otherwise. Which makes that specific technology indispensable to the power industry (bad splices), the building industry (drafts), etc. A big thank you to Flir for providing lunch for all of us, as well as T-shirts and hats.

Before we went on the field trip though, we were able to do some climbing -

Check it out!