Float planes in BC normally fly at altitudes that seem to most people to be very low, helicopters in particular often “scud run” in bad weather and fly at very low level following roads and waterways through valleys and narrow passes. Those balls are also placed on tall communications tower guy wires.
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An anecdote about those power lines:
In 2023 I sent two guys with a drone to film one of our boats as she went through Seymour Narrows. There is a trail about 3 miles along that takes you up to the bluffs on the west side. Close to where it ends is the clearing where the power line towers stand.
everything had to be coordinated with the boat captain via cell and vhf. We couldn’t hold up the boat for the filming. She had to go through at slack.
So the two man team set off early on the trail, to be ready to launch the drone from the bluffs. They had gotten about halfway when they turned a corner and found a grizzly ahead of them on the trail maybe a 100 feet away.
They did everything you’re supposed to do with grizzlies, which worked in the sense that the bear ignored them. But the bear stayed put, and only moved on after the better part of an hour.
The bear was going to scotch an entire three day filming operation.
The crew then had to fast walk to the bluffs (but not run, because where you see a grizzly you’re just as likely to see a cougar). They got there just in time to launch the drone and film the Coastal Nomad going through.
The next year we discovered we could have done all that without cardio and wildlife drama if we had just anchored the Curlew in Maud Bay and launched from there.
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Kind of off the topic, but if the lines themselves are metal and not insulated, what difference does it make what the spheres of deceit are made of?
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With metal objects of nontrivial size (these balls are about 3 ft in diameter) along high voltage lines, there would be all kinds of unwanted effects like reduced efficacy of power transmission, corona discharge, eddy currents, increased risk of sparking, radio interference, …
EDIT: On very high voltage lines, the marker balls are sometimes strung along a separate, ground/shield cable that runs across the masttops. Even then, metal marker balls might increase the risk of arcs/sparking.
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This guy’s got great big ones!!
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And a trustworthy coxswain at his side 
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They use the same technique to inspect the insulators .
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I trust they insulate the inspectors! 
No, they make the inspector part of the conductor. As long as there is no difference in potential there is no danger. The inspector wears a '“faraday suit” of fine stainless wire mesh fabric to avoid discomfort from skin irritation caused by corona discharge to the air.
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The idea of a flux capacitor for lighting is a simple idea I wish I had thought of for that application.
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