You gotta watch this to the very end.

It may happen every day, but still...WOW!



Who needs a ground crew?

Mad skills!

Impressive piloting skills. What does this guy make an hour?

Wow!

Amazing, it's not just hitting one spot, the tower needs to be aligned properly for all four legs.

Piece of cake!

quote:

Originally posted by mcrimm:
Impressive piloting skills. What does this guy make an hour?

Not enough!! Great job of flying...

No way that was real, did you see how slow the rotors were turning...

I'm betting he's done that before.

The CO ArNG had those at Buckley Field back in 1988 when I was in the ANG with A-7s.

Does anyone know why the Army got rid of them? Could the Chinook do the heavy lift mission almost as well?

I used to sling load howitzers under those in past days. What a blow job!

Search Erickson Air Crane. That is exactly the type of work they do. Other videos available on tube to see them in action.

“Hold my beer....watch this.”

quote:

Originally posted by Muddflap:
I'm betting he's done that before.

A couple two tree times.

Damn that guy is good.

Riddle me this, is the pilot doing all the work or is there another person operating the "crane" portion? Impressive worthier way, just curious.

quote:

Originally posted by Sigmund:
The CO ArNG had those at Buckley Field back in 1988 when I was in the ANG with A-7s.

Does anyone know why the Army got rid of them? Could the Chinook do the heavy lift mission almost as well?

The Chinook is arguably better. The modern Chinook has a 24,000lbs payload, where the CH-54 was 20,000lbs, and the dual rotor setup has advantages in stability.
While the Skycrane is purpose built for heavy lift, the Chinook could manage the role while being a more useful all-around helicopter. With budget cuts the way they were, the Chinook was the clear winner.

That was really cool.

One time while living a block and a half off of Michigan Ave in Chicago we were awoken by some loud noises. Look out and a helo is going down between all the skyscrapers. At the same time, Michigan Ave was completely blocked and semis with huge AC units pulled up. Helo locks on, pulls these half-a-trailer sized units off and takes them and drops them on the roof top. Was a pretty insane sight to see. It all happened at like 7-8am on Sunday and as fast as they arrived they were done. Was quite impressive.

From a Flying magazine article in 2012:

https://www.flyingmag.com/airc...ne-back-seat-driving

"Unique among helicopters, the Erickson Air-Crane has a third pilot’s seat, facing aft toward the tail rotor. An enclosure similar to a glassed-in phone booth contains flight controls that operate the helicopter’s trim systems, making small adjustments possible. Perched on the tiny cushion, the rear pilot has a perfect view of the area beneath the machine.

A National Geographic crew filmed Max Evans in Olga as he assembled a 1,400-foot-tall TV tower using the Erickson Air-Crane. It’s a carefully choreographed job, including a crew in the helicopter and another on the tower. Watching Max fly tons of roaring machine and dangling steel is like watching Rembrandt paint. … Small, almost imperceptible movements put each tower section exactly on the pins of the tower section below. An error of just a couple of feet could kill one of the tower crew, so the operation is an exercise in communication, skill and trust.

When the tower section slides over the pins, Max lowers the aircraft slightly to put slack in the cables, triggers the release clamps and then lifts up and away as the guys on the tower start ratcheting down nuts. He’ll get a minute or two to relax as the front-seat crew flies back to the staging site, and then he’ll do it all again."

quote:

Originally posted by mcrimm:
What does this guy make an hour?

That's some fancy flying there.

On another note, I'm surprised Sikorsky or Boeing hasn't put a helicopter like that back in production. Those are old birds, and VERY useful. Something like a Chinook beefed up and up engined, without a cargo cabin, but with a rear facing flight station in the cockpit, would do the job. I think that both militaries (not just the US) and civilian operators would buy them.