In my HV switching class we were showed this video.
Is it just because Im a sparky that this amuses me or does everyone else find this facinating?
This is switching 500kv on full load
You're not alone. That is 'ken awesome
But I must ask - do you need to do a class in how to throw a switch???? 
geez owen come to my joint I have lights n stuff.
But 2 grand tax deductible that will give you a return just before next season???
Awesome vid greeny,
found this one linked to it, which fascinated me, must take some huge balls to bond onto the wire for the first time plus a pretty bloody good chopper pilot
This one was also linked, imagine walking outside and seeing this bad boy!
He wont make that mistake again.
Greenroom, when I was working offshore, it was mandatory to have a thick rubber mat in front of a switch board. Different scenario because the switchboards were mounted on steel plate, but would it make a difference in that situation?
A sparky's job in a power station or similar??
Even if I knew how to do it, I don't think there is enough money in the world to pay me to do it.
The rubber mat would have done nothing to protect the operator in this instance. A part of the internal structure of the cabinet had separated and fell into the "insulated" busbars causing a 'dead" short resulting in the fireball which lasted only as long as the protection devices for that circuit took to operate.
Thats why we wear rated jackets pants gloves and 40cal hoods for switching these days at(WastingPowerCorporation)
Can't add much on the electrical excitement side other than the usual 415 volt sparks.
BUT I will see if I can dig out some of the news footage of the 2001 fire that destroyed my factory. I guess most people can remember setting fire to a bit of magnesium ribbon during high school science class. Well we had 80 tonnes of magnesium go up in smoke.During the early "exciting" phase of the fire a number of 45kg LPG cylinders that were inside started venting filling the whole of the 1500sq metre factory with gas which did not explode because of a shortage of oxygen, but it did ignite in huge Crown Casino type fireballs leaping hundreds of metres into the sky when vented through the fibreglass/skylights which had burned/melted away. One cylinder took off like a giant catherine wheel flying through the top of the back wall and landing 150 metres away. The firies shat themselves. Later when the explosive material was done the glow from the burning magnesium could be seen from 80 kilometeres away. It took six days before the firedepartment handed the building back to our control (in extremely unusual circumstances) and a further 2 weeks before we actually declared the fire extinguished.
The main problem had been that this building was our storage warehouse and we have a much smaller magnesium casting plant that only ever has a few tonnes of magnesium in for safety reasons. Apart from the immediate spilt metal firefighting materials all of our magnesium firefighting materials are stored in the warehouse so that they are available in the event of a casting plant fire.
The fire guys were great, they were willing to listen to our advice on how to approach and control a magnesium fire through it various phases, they were willing to learn from our experience with burning magnesium and indeed used this as a unique learning experience for themselves.
The worksafe crew on the other hand were a disaster. They wanted to stick me in jail and ban me from coming anywhere near the place, it was only the early rappor that had been built with the firecrew that have overriding site control that allowed me to be present and assist with fire management. The worksafe mob flew in a couple of university "experts" who had never seen that much magnesium and had certainly never seen more than a bit of magnesium ribbon on fire. The experts advice to worksafe which was issued as a legal directive to my company (me) was in direct contradiction to the advice that I was giving the fire chief. Fortunately he was willing to pull rank and clear worksafe and their advisors away untill such time as he had declared that it was safe to do so. After that rebuff I can't tell you how pissed the worksafe inspector was when I pointed out to him that his prohibition notice, infringement notice and pending legal charges under the dangerous goods act could be shoved up his arse because magnesium ingot is not classified under the dangerous goods act. All his references to magnesium read magnesium-powder, turnings and ribbon. Not ingot!
