Shockwaves from hover bovver

The more stories we run on who might or might not get an electric shock, the less we know.
If we were more upset about this state of affairs, we’d try to change it by educating ourselves, but instead – courtesy of Michael Franks at William Sturges & Co – we bring you the British Sub-Aqua Club’s notes on the electric charge that a helicopter winchman can carry.
‘All the rotating machinery in a helicopter generates a substantial amount of static electricity. This builds up in the structure of the helicopter until a part of it touches the ground or sea surface, at which time it is all earthed. The part of a hovering helicopter that is likely to touch the surface is the winchman on the end of the winch cable. Do not touch the winchman until either he or the trailing tail of the winch cable has touched the boat or the sea surface, or you will experience a hefty electric shock,’ it says. Gosh.