Natural Gas Leak Inspection Final Report GAZ SYSTEMS S.A.

On April 24th and 25th Pergam-Suisse in cooperation with A.C.E. Aviation performed natural gas leak inspections of 3 pipeline segments for GAZ SYSTEM S.A. The segments were Mory Piotrkow Wykaz, Piotr Rz Warta Wykaz, and Rem Granica Wykaz. Fourteen leak detections were registered. The leak detection scanning was performed with a Pergam-Suisse ALMA system.

Figure 1 - Map of Inspection Flight Paths. (Red line is pipeline. Black line is flight path. Dark Blue circles are leaks)

The Pergam-Suisse ALMA system detects methane gas leaks from airborne platforms (predominately helicopters) by passing a laser beam through the methane cloud that surrounds the leak source. The infrared laser light emitted includes a wavelength in the region of 1650 nm that methane absorbs. The system analyzes the laser light back scatter to determine how much if any of the laser energy was absorbed by methane. The operator monitors the data provided by the system to confirm leak detections, helps the pilot with navigating along the pipeline, and determines if an area needs further inspection. The system continually records the data including GPS information.

Extensive modifications were made to the ALMA system by Pergam-Suisse to meet the customer’s request of recording high quality video from 4 cameras. One camera looks forward at 45 degrees providing a landscape image to aid in the recognition of the equipment position. Another camera records the area where the equipment is actually pointed. The remaining two cameras are pointed left and right to document the area surrounding the pipeline. Over 150 Gigabytes of video data was recorded.

This report contains maps of the flight path for all three flights; and the GPS coordinates, location depicted on a zoomed-in map, estimated size, and pictures of area for all leaks detected. The video taking during all 3 flights was provided separately on a USB hard disk.

Natural Gas Leak Detection Details

Inspection Flight: 1
Location: Mory Piotrkow Wykaz
Date: 24 April 2007
Flight Direction: From Northwest to Southwest
File Name: 240407_000

Map of First Inspection Flight Path (Red line is pipeline. Black line is flight path. Dark Blue circles are leaks).

Inspection Flight: 2
Location: Piotr Rz Warta Wykaz
Date: 24 April 2007
Flight Direction: From Southwest to Northwest
File Name: 240407_001