Actually, based on investigations I have made on things like this, what sometimes happens is you send a crew out to see what the problem is. They find a wire laying on the ground. Then they try to figure out why the wire broke. Sometimes it looks like a nick that might have been caused by a gun shot and it is a rural area, so you tell everybody that somebody shot the conductor. Other times, if it is near an airport you tell folks that it was a plane that probably clipped the wire and caused it to fail. Sometimes, if there is a recently cut tree stump nearby you say that a tree was cut and fell into the line (especially if there is some charred wood!).
For something this major, I would not expect Cal ISO to speculate, I would expect them to figure out the real reason. I also would suspect that if it were a plane that clipped the line, there would have been aircraft parts laying around or one really scared pilot somewhere.
A low-flying twin-engine plane clipped a high-power transmission system south of Palmdale, causing a power outage for more than 190 homes, but the plane made it safely to Fox Airfield.
The collision occurred Sunday night in Soledad Pass near where the Antelope Valley Freeway passes through the San Gabriel Mountains.
It damaged the Cessna 310's left wingtip fuel tank and severed a power line cable, which then knocked out two power lines, officials said.
The pilot was not injured, Federal Aviation Administration officials said. The plane, registered to a Delaware company, made it 15 miles to Fox Airfield and landed safely, officials said.
The cable the plane hit was not charged with electricity. It is called a "static line" and protects a Los Angeles Department of Water and Power high-power transmission line from lightning strikes, officials said. But the severed cable hit a transmission line beneath it and also knocked out a nearby Southern California Edison distribution line.
DWP officials said their customers in Los Angeles were not affected by the accident.
A citizen found a piece of shredded metal on the ground near the power lines and called authorities, FAA officials said. The agency was investigating.