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The available project reporting does not confirm that a drone surveyed HumeLink West while being controlled from 350 kilometres away. Transgrid says drones are used for survey, investigation and monitoring, while separate reporting describes drones and helicopters placing pilot wires for transmission-line construction. A report’s figure of 378 kilometres is the operation’s location southwest of Sydney—not a stated drone-control distance.
What is HumeLink West?
HumeLink is a new 500 kV transmission project connecting Wagga Wagga, Bannaby and Maragle. Transgrid describes the full project as about 365 kilometres of new transmission lines. Its western section, HumeLink West, covers a 140-kilometre alignment and includes the new Maragle and Gugaa 500 kV substations, as well as an upgrade to the existing Wagga Wagga 330 kV substation. UGL and CPB Contractors are delivering HumeLink West as a joint venture. Transgrid’s HumeLink West project overview and its HumeLink project page describe the scope.
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How drones are used on the project
There are two distinct uses in the project reporting: survey and monitoring, and aerial stringing. They should not be conflated. Transgrid lists drone and aerial photography among survey, investigation and monitoring activities. Separately, construction crews use drones or helicopters to carry a pilot wire between towers as part of installing the transmission conductors.
Survey, investigation and monitoring
Transgrid identifies drones and aerial photography as tools used during survey, investigation and monitoring. The project page does not specify the drone model, camera or other sensor, survey method, or how far away an operator may be. Nor does the cited material give a HumeLink West-specific measurement of drone-survey accuracy or productivity. Transgrid’s project overview establishes the activity, but not those technical details.
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Aerial stringing: placing the pilot wire
For line stringing, a drone or helicopter carries a lightweight pilot wire to tower arms, where temporary pulley blocks are fitted. Once the wire is routed through the blocks, it can be used to pull heavier draw wire and then conductor cable from tower to tower. The aircraft’s role is to place the initial wire; it does not simply fly the completed high-voltage conductor into position. Transgrid says helicopters may be used where terrain is unsuitable for drones, including steep terrain. Its description of the process is in its HumeLink West project updates and the project’s line-stringing information.
Why use an aerial method instead of dragging wire along the ground?
Traditional ground-based stringing can involve bulldozers and tractors dragging draw wire between towers. In aerial stringing, the pilot wire is guided into tower-mounted pulley blocks from above. The distinction matters across a long corridor: the reported approach shifts more of this wire-placement work into the air rather than requiring it to be carried out along the route at ground level. It does not mean every part of construction is aerial or that ground access is eliminated.
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A pv magazine Australia report dated 8 October 2026 says Infravision is installing the draw-wire package on HumeLink West using four drone systems. It describes the western section as having more than 360 towers. The same report quotes Leading Edge Helicopters pilot John Caldwell saying helicopter stringing is “five times faster” than traditional methods. That is Caldwell’s attributed comparison, not a controlled or independently verified project-wide productivity measurement. The report also quotes Infravision Chief Remote Pilot Philip Phoebe: “Our system allows more of the work to happen above the corridor rather than through it.” Transgrid HumeLink Program Director John Burke is quoted describing the work by Leading Edge Helicopters and Infravision as a safe, fast and low-impact way to install high-voltage transmission lines; these are attributed statements, not independent performance findings.
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Does “350km away” mean the drone was operated from that distance?
That interpretation is not established by the available reporting. The 8 October 2026 pv magazine Australia article says the operation is taking place 378 kilometres southwest of Sydney. That is a geographic description relative to Sydney; it does not state how far a drone was from its pilot or where the pilot was operating it. The same report describes pilots guiding draw wires at HumeLink, but does not verify a 350-kilometre remote-control or survey distance.
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Accordingly, “drones survey HumeLink West from 350km away” should not be read as a confirmed operating-range fact. The cited sources support drone use on the project, including survey and monitoring, and describe aerial line-stringing work. They do not connect either activity to a 350-kilometre separation between drone and operator. The 378-kilometre figure appears in the October report as the project’s location southwest of Sydney, not as a drone range.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Which organisations are involved?
Transgrid is the project network operator, and UGL and CPB Contractors are the HumeLink West delivery joint venture. An ICN Gateway procurement listing names Uncrewed Air Transport Pty Ltd, trading as Skyports Drone Services, as the recipient of an awarded “Drone Consultant” package. The listing says the work was to advise on ways drones could improve transmission-line activities, including efficiency, safety and environmental performance; it does not establish that this firm performed the specific stringing work described in the trade coverage. The ICN Gateway project listing records the package.
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The 8 October 2026 pv magazine Australia report identifies Australian drone company Infravision as the contractor installing the draw-wire package with four drone systems. An earlier report, dated 2 July 2026, covers the start of conductor stringing on HumeLink West and describes the use of aerial methods and the role of terrain in choosing between drones and helicopters. Read the July report on stringing operations.
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