"general question" somewhat aviation related

CharlieD3

CharlieD3

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CharlieD3
How tall is this power line tower?
0a5a653944a77392103d163eb51b63ce.jpg
 
What does the sectional say? ;)
 
1 meeelian feet

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The sectional says nuttin', honey...

Surely, there's a specification for the horizontals to figure the height.

I just wonder if we gots powerline pilots or linemen in POA...

It's a curiosity thing really.
 
The greater the transmission voltage and/or the wider the span between towers, the taller the tower. Generally they 80-225', and most of the big boys are about 180'-200'.
 
Richard Bach flew across the United States in a 1929 Detroit-Parks biplane with just a road map and compass. The real question was...should I go over or under?
 
Brad Smith said:
Richard Bach flew across the United States in a 1929 Detroit-Parks biplane with just a road map and compass. The real question was...should I go over or under?
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"Biplane," good book I like most of Bach's stuff... Even the "spiritual."

So, 200' is a fair "rule of thumb." Thanx for that.

But, I still kinda want to know if there's a way to tell more accurately by the number of sections.
 
Go out on bright sunny day with a 100 ft measuring tape. Pick the point at the end of the shadow of the tower. Now, measure the distance from the base of the tower to the end of the shadow. Next, determine the angle from the shadow tip to the top of the tower. Basic trig to get the height of the tower.
 
Can you stand pretty far away from it?

The old right triangle trick with a stick or pole marked as long as your arm will get pretty close without any measuring tools.

(Back up until a stick as long as your arm held at arms length in front of you covers the object. You’re now standing as far away from the object as it is tall. Usually used for estimating tree height.).

Good old Pythagoras. :)
 
If I recall correctly, anything 200 feet and taller require a red hazard light on it. So using that metric, these are less than 200 feet.
 
denverpilot said:
Can you stand pretty far away from it?

The old right triangle trick with a stick or pole marked as long as your arm will get pretty close without any measuring tools.

(Back up until a stick as long as your arm held at arms length in front of you covers the object. You’re now standing as far away from the object as it is tall. Usually used for estimating tree height.).

Good old Pythagoras. :)
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That's cool. I'm trying that out soon!

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mwagg737 said:
That's cool. I'm trying that out soon!

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It’s a cool trick. Of course you still have to measure or pace off how far you are away after that, but it’s easier than climbing the tree! Ha.
 
denverpilot said:
Can you stand pretty far away from it?

The old right triangle trick with a stick or pole marked as long as your arm will get pretty close without any measuring tools.

(Back up until a stick as long as your arm held at arms length in front of you covers the object. You’re now standing as far away from the object as it is tall. Usually used for estimating tree height.).

Good old Pythagoras. :)
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Or a good old fashioned ratio should work.

Measure the length of the shadow of a 6’ stick (or any length for that matter) and the length of the shadow of the tower. You have 3 out of 4 measurements, the 4th is easily calculated.
 
Greg Bockelman said:
Or a good old fashioned ratio should work.

Measure the length of the shadow of a 6’ stick (or any length for that matter) and the length of the shadow of the tower. You have 3 out of 4 measurements, the 4th is easily calculated.
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Yeah the shadow thing works too. Still have to go pace off or measure the shadow which can be long late in the day! Haha. Which is why I never remember that one.

It’s either blazing hot and almost noon straight up or late in the afternoon when I decide I want to know how tall something is. :)

Because Murphey and his buddies Broke, Desperate, and Stupid always visit. :) :) :)
 
It's the isolated radio towers that are truly scary... got one about 15 miles from my home field that's 1200' AGL.
 
denverpilot said:
Yeah the shadow thing works too. Still have to go pace off or measure the shadow which can be long late in the day! Haha. Which is why I never remember that one.

It’s either blazing hot and almost noon straight up or late in the afternoon when I decide I want to know how tall something is. :)

Because Murphey and his buddies Broke, Desperate, and Stupid always visit. :) :) :)
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By that point in the day, the only thing I wanna know how tall it is comes out of a beer faucet, and it don't last long enough to measure. Fluid dynamics. No tape measure needed, no pacing, just good times.
 
There are height estimating apps for your phone.

The photo appears to be a typical 345kV tower. These are generally 120' high.
 
CharlieD3 said:
How tall is this power line tower?
0a5a653944a77392103d163eb51b63ce.jpg
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I recall back in scouting days when a pencil and a known height person were used for measuring /guessing height.
One took a pencil at arms length compared to known height person . Put the thumb at height of person on pencil , then moved up the tower . multiply the numbers of moves up the tower times the known height of person. Bingo ! Close.
 
Dana said:
It's the isolated radio towers that are truly scary... got one about 15 miles from my home field that's 1200' AGL.
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We have the infamous Hoyt Tower 1995 ft agl (but the maps say 2000 ft) about 22 inches outside the Mode C veil in Denver. FAA says it's not an aviation obstacle because none of the routes to KDEN are in the way. And another one just north of it at 1190 AGL. The towers are lit but not the guy wires.

Then there's the pair of towers (1170 AGL) by Erie. And the growing collection of wind turbines by Limon (KLIC).
 
There was a rule of thumb AG guys used, slips the mind now

Just get a laser range finder and do some math
 
If the fence posts are around three feet high, I’m guessing 40’ for the tower. Actually 37 but I rounded up. If they are 4’ I’m thinking around 50’ high.
 
LongRoadBob said:
If the fence posts are around three feet high, I’m guessing 40’ for the tower. Actually 37 but I rounded up. If they are 4’ I’m thinking around 50’ high.
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At 40'... My guess is you might fly under the lowest wire... Might have to duck a little...
 
CharlieD3 said:
At 40'... My guess is you might fly under the lowest wire... Might have to duck a little...
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yeah... my bad. Forgot the fence posts are nearer us in the photo, so would look shorter if moved the (50 yards?..common, give me SOMEthing) distance to the base.
150 ‘, and that’s my final answer until I get a new one.
 
Zeldman said:
On my computer screen the tower is about 5 inches tall...
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If you take it outside and find a power line near you you can measure it with the screen. It’s bound to be at least 15” tall, unless you are really far away, then it might even be smaller!


Sorry...Christmas is getting to me.
 
If => 200', I think it has to be lit at night. I've never seen any of these with lights, so < 200'.
 
murphey said:
We have the infamous Hoyt Tower 1995 ft agl (but the maps say 2000 ft) about 22 inches outside the Mode C veil in Denver. FAA says it's not an aviation obstacle because none of the routes to KDEN are in the way. And another one just north of it at 1190 AGL. The towers are lit but not the guy wires.

Then there's the pair of towers (1170 AGL) by Erie. And the growing collection of wind turbines by Limon (KLIC).
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Guy wires are almost never lit. One should always assume they’re there around any tower. Some are freestanding but you can’t tell from the air. I did some aerial photography of a group that was camping under one of the towers on the tower hill just west of Limon and we made darn sure to stay well above the tower tops that year. Interesting planning problem and needed a heck of a lens to even have a mediocre photo of them all waving.

There’s a massive wind turbine farm south of the AstroTurf runway too... and on a ridge. It’ll freak a Garmin’s terrain warning right the heck out if you’re in the downwind to land northbound. Haha.

It’ll even display an icon of a giant wind turbine on your iPad showing you that you’re about to be chopped into little airplane bits. LOL
 
n2230b said:
I’m getting a headache reading some of these posts.:confused:
I’m too old and feeble.
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Nah... The one where you take a stick as long as your arm held out at eye level until the stick meets top and bottom of tower, then pacing off distance is a good un...

I haven't tried it yet but will, and report back.
 
CharlieD3 said:
Nah... The one where you take a stick as long as your arm held out at eye level until the stick meets top and bottom of tower, then pacing off distance is a good un...

I haven't tried it yet but will, and report back.
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I just tried it, it comes pretty darn close. Close enough for estimating!


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Climb to the top, drop something heavy, timing it as it drops. From the time to fall, you can calculate height.
Height = 1/2 * 32.2 * time^2 Units are feet and seconds.

Edit: Toss the weight horizontally so it clears the structure. Won't change the calculation.
 
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