Man Shocked To Find Out Power Line Rappelling Is Dangerous

Eugene Scott Duncan's decision to rappel down a high voltage power line tower behind his house ended as you might predict it would. When he finally touched one of the wires, that carry as much as 46,000 volts, he fell to the ground and was taken to Raleigh General Hospital. Police say they will investigate the incident and may charge Duncan with trespassing on the line.

Pic doesn't seem to match up with story

[petermgreen]

The linked article has no pictures and the one posted here looks like a higher voltage line than is mentioned in the story to me.

Re:

[madsci1016]

It is. That's more like a 250 or 500 KV line.

Inaccurate

[Locke2005]

Touching one of the wires shouldn't be a problem -- birds do it all the time. Touching two of the wires, or getting between one of the wires and a path to ground IS a big problem. Unfortunately, this guy hasn't completely removed himself from the gene pool, so he doesn't qualify for a Darwin award, but let's all wish him better luck next time!

Re:

[Ungrounded Lightning]

Touching one of the wires shouldn't be a problem -- birds do it all the time. Touching two of the wires, or getting between one of the wires and a path to ground IS a big problem.

The line he was using to rappel probably wasn't sufficiently insulating to avoid being a conductor to ground. Especially after he handled it with his sweaty body.

Also, the field strength (volts/inch) is significantly higher near the tower than on the span (because the tower brings ground up near the wires, reducing their effective