Article: Duke Power's Eyes in the Sky Spot Wrecked Insulators.

By Stan Choe, The Charlotte Observer, N.C. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Dec. 16--Duke Power workers see some strange things, as they zoom in a helicopter 65 feet above the utility's network of transmission lines, looking for anything that could damage the essential wires.

Over the years, Duke scouts have reported a swimming pool built directly underneath a superjuiced line, vultures vomiting on the wires and deer hunters setting up stands in towers for a good shot.

But damage to Duke's insulators -- the ceramic rings that support the lines as they pass through the towers -- vexes them most often.

The insulators, which look ...

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