I’ve always wondered. The reigning theory as a kid was so that planes could see the line and not fly into it. In adulthood, we realized: planes really don’t fly that low ever.
In: Physics
I’ve always heard that it’s for helicopters as they may fly low to make rescues along a mountain path. Bulbs ad visibility so that the helicopters can avoid a catastrophic failure
u/hunny_nut is right they are used for low flying aircraft, as well as ground machinery (cranes, scissor lifts, large excavators, etc.) they’re called “visibility markers”
Not sure about mountains, but where I am from they are in fact used for airplanes! Many people use planes to crop dust their fields and use highways as run ways so these are present to make sure they use the right highway.
I asked my parents this question when on vacation as a child. They responded that those “balls on the power lines” were actually “floats” and were there to make sure the power lines didn’t sink when the road flooded. I can’t describe my internal panic as I imagined how very high the flood would have to be to reach that height. (We lived on the Gulf coast, and I saw numerous hurricanes and floods as a child) Yeah, my folks were mean.
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