Probably the weirdest (certainly the most unexpected) thing I've done was to remove a hot air baloon, complete with 12 passengers, from a live 20kV power line ! The pilot lost control of the baloon and drifted down the River Tyne and collided with the overhead line (OHL) near Ryton. The resultamnt large bang & flash ripped the baloon to shreds and the people in the basket were suspended some four of five feet above the river. Once the line was made dead & earthed up we helped the Fire Brigade & Police to get the people safely out the baloon. Then it was time to cut what was left of the baloon free from the OHL with insulated rods with saw attachments, usually used for tree cutting. This was done from within the river with waders on, not easy I can tell you. It took about an hour but we got it all off so the line could be re-energised. No damage to any of the conductors either.
Three weeks later we had a Belgian Army helicopter fly into the 20kV OHL on the Otterburn Ranges, getting the three conductors stuck between the rota blades and the cockpit - never a dull moment on the fault restoration department of Northern Electric as it was (now Northern Powergrid) !
