By Land and Air

Crews Unite to Restore Power After Helene

Michael Duckworth won’t soon forget his first flight that weekend over Tusculum in Greene County, Tennessee.

The destruction from Hurricane Helene was like nothing he’d ever seen.

“The volume of water that came down through those canyons and just washed (away) homes, earth, roads – it was surreal," he said. “It was biblical.”

As one of seven helicopter pilots in Tennessee Valley Authority’s Aviation fleet, Duckworth patrols vast areas of the seven-state region, although he primarily supports TVA’s West Region. He also transports TVA personnel to job sites and provides valuable insights to crews as they work to build and repair transmission lines.

The week of Helene, he suspected he’d be called to serve.

That call came on Friday, Sept. 27, as he drove to his home. When Helene descended on the Valley region, it turned into a tropical storm that dumped record rainfall and caused historic flooding in eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina.

Duckworth would need to fly out Saturday morning to support line crews in east Tennessee.

He arrived at the airport before dawn, ready to fly, but inclement weather held him back.

“The clouds were too low and the ship we use for construction and maintenance is not equipped for that. You can’t fly in those conditions,” he said.

After waiting about 10 hours, he called it a day. He returned Sunday morning, but the turbulent weather persisted.

He feared his flight would be delayed yet again.

But around midafternoon, he saw it – a small pocket of open sky. Enough to allow for a takeoff.

He seized the opportunity and took to the skies, eager to support lineworkers already hard at work restoring power.

TVA’s ground crews worked past midnight on their first day, lacing steel and rebuilding lattice towers for structures felled by the storm, Duckworth said.

One of the towers, a 100-foot structure, has not been found. It’s likely buried deep downriver.

By the time Duckworth arrived in Greene County, his team had rebuilt the overhead ground wire peaks on three towers and rewired the towers by using bucket trucks.

He immediately began flying in additional lineworkers to clear fallen trees and repair downed lines.

He also helped restring transmission towers by pulling wire into the air and surveying each line, ensuring crews could reenergize them safely and effectively.

“What we can do with a helicopter in getting that wire from point A to point B takes minutes compared to doing that with hand lines, dragging it across a field or through a river,” Duckworth said. “Helicopters are the tool for things like that. You shave hours of time on the job.”

With more than 20 years of experience, Jeffrey Wojtowicz is one of seven helicopter pilots in TVA’s Aviation fleet.

Soaring to Service

About 70 miles east of Tusculum, in Beech Mountain, North Carolina, crews worked on another power restoration effort.

TVA's Jeffrey Wojtowicz, a helicopter pilot of more than 20 years, received a call on Friday, Sept. 27, about downed power lines. The storm was still passing through, but the winds were such that a helicopter could fly safely.

Wojtowicz and Mark Morrow, a TVA general foreman, took flight and assessed the damage.

“We identified the problems in the Beech Mountain area in about three hours," Wojtowicz said. “It would’ve taken multiple crews, multiple days to do the same thing. That ability to gather information quicker is a tremendous asset in storm work.”

In surveying the area, they saw several trees had downed power lines. Four towers had been completely taken down and another four needed repairs.

The first priority: Identify the downed power lines that would carry the most load.

The second: Ensure crews could work on the lines safely to restore power as quickly as possible.

In multiple flights over the next three days, TVA helicopter pilot Clayton Dann transported Morrow to the affected areas.

The Aviation team – stationed in nearby Cranberry, North Carolina – transported crews and also delivered much-needed resources and supplies to lineworkers in Beech Mountain.

“We would drop people in,” Morrow said. “We would load the chainsaws and everything that the line crew would need, come back, load it up, and then fly it back out to the guys.”

On Tuesday, Wojtowicz returned to relieve Dann and continue the restoration efforts.

Using a ski resort parking lot as a landing station, Wojtowicz flew in electricians and line crews.

Normally, it’s a 30-minute drive up a steep mountain road from Cranberry to Beech Mountain. By helicopter, it takes less than 10 minutes.

“That’s the benefit of the helicopter,” Wojtowicz said. “We don’t need to follow the road.”

The crews faced a host of challenges to restore power – limited food and water, rugged terrain, communication difficulties.

With cell towers out, they relied on satellite phones.

Despite the hurdles, they maintained a singular line of thought: Don’t give up. Work the problem. Find a solution. Help those in need.

“There’s nothing to complain about,” Duckworth said. “There’s no such thing as a gripe. The goal and the mindset is: ‘We’ve got to do all we can for these people to make their lives a little better.’”

TVA’s helicopter pilots and line crews work together to help maintain more than 16,400 miles of transmission lines throughout the Valley region.

‘A Tough Breed’

TVA maintains more than 16,400 miles of transmission lines throughout the Valley region.

During severe weather, if lines are downed or other challenges arise, lineworkers and Aviation crews react quickly to ensure the resiliency of the grid.

Following Helene, outages in TVA’s service area dropped from over 100,000 to 22,000 in a few days. Within weeks, crews restored every TVA-owned transmission line in the area.

This achievement was only possible through the collective effort of lineworkers and helicopter pilots who headed into storm-damaged areas to help communities in need.

And this mission of service isn't without its physical and mental toll.

As helicopter pilots and lineworkers processed what they witnessed in the days following Helene, they gained strength in seeing their efforts benefit the people of the Valley region.

The crews take pride in that work, Duckworth said.

“I’m always impressed by their ability,” he said of lineworkers, who he calls a tough breed. “For them to do that kind of work in the dark with spotlights, working through the night – then coming back the next day at sunup – it's pretty amazing."

TVA Aviation teams transport ground crews while delivering resources and supplies to maintain and repair lines.