Helicopter making passes over Santa Barbara County part of utility safety LIDAR scanning

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – On Monday, a chartered helicopter was conducting LIDAR scans on behalf of Southern California Edison in the skies over southern Santa Barbara County.

According to the company that owns the helicopter, Sacramento Executive Helicopters Inc., they have been contracted by a another company to conduct the scans of vegetation near Southern California Edison-operated power lines.

LIDAR scans require multiple passes to get the most accurate readings of the ground below and the passes are shown as the yellow flight pattern lines in the image below courtesy of flightradar24 and alert viewers.