A Christmas themed is it real or is it fake video

[normalbloke]

What do we think people?

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[206Fan]

Why would it be fake? That video is four years old and has been doing the rounds on fb a lot recently. I believe this is the same Pilot below doing it a different year!

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[normalbloke]

I thought I'd ask the experts, as there are many very good virals out there! Having only watched it on a teeny screen, it seems almost too good, however, if the video is genuine, I am impressed! Very! I've also not seen it before doing the rounds, perhaps I lead a sheltered life now, being the professional lurker that I am!

[DeltaNg]

Very fun flying....like the cool box in the P2 footwell too!

I'm always amazed at the difference between aerial work and commercial air transport.

[Gordy]

It is real....welcome to the real world of utility flying.......

[Gemini Twin]

Oh it's real alright and seen every year in the Pacific Northwest, starting usually in November. Very careful and accurate mastery of mechanics and physics conducted by experts. Trees sell for $30-$50 each at The Home Depot in Washington and probably double that after being trucked to Southern California.

[Tandemrotor]

Lost a great friend a few years back when an empty long strop snagged his tail rotor. Would be a great shame if this undoubtedly talented (group of?) pilot(s) went the same way.

[FC80]

Are my ears playing tricks on me or is the NR drooping quite significantly when he's decelerating to pick up the load?

Just curious.

[Savoia]

Your ears do not deceive you.

This type of load-lifting is brutal on the aircraft with repetitive stresses being imposed on the gearbox, turbine and drive-train.

The flying itself is carried-out continuously in the avoid curve and with little viable recourse in the event of any kind of emergency.

But .. there we are, each to their own!

[Hedski]

Torque limits, LTE and Vortex Ring. There's my thoughts.

[moosp]

Gemini, and when they are put in a container and sent across to Hong Kong we can easily pay USD150 for a 6 foot tree. Good business but a bit "seasonal"...

[SEIFR]

Just saw this posted on face$%#@.
I have a 'H' ticket but very little time flying them. This looked a little crazy to me. Came here to see what some of you would think. sure enough its already being talked about on pprune. And it seems I was thinking correctly;)

[206Fan]

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[SASless]

Production is the key to being asked back for the next Season when it comes to Christmas Tree Harvesting.


Helicopter pilot is too good for inertia. [VIDEO] (http://www.wimp.com/pilotinertia/)

[206Fan]

Already been posted sir. 7th one down on the main page :ok:

[SEIFR]

Gully blocking and heather brash (chopped heather)... what the??
This canuck is a little lost. Going to have to get on google tonight :)

[hookes_joint]

One of my favorites to take a glance at this time of year. Production flying is fun but tough on the machines.

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[Gemini Twin]

With respect to comments about safety aspects on first the tree harvesting video. These are not heavy loads and well with in the capabilities of the B206. In fact the load does some of the work. The helicopters are maintained at a very high level by the best crews in the Northwest and flown by pilots with equally high levels of skills and experience. Not to say that all operators are like this one though.

p.s. moosp, you have Christmas trees in HK?? I thought you would imitation ones from the main land:)

[nocarsgo]

That second video is of a different pilot.

Some shots from our Christmas tree season so far in Oregon.


Picture's source (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Precision-Flight-Training/229699817089197)

https://scontent-b-sea.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/1456611_10151854714764001_135332609_n.jpg

Picture's source (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Precision-Flight-Training/229699817089197)

https://scontent-b-sea.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/1474515_615972871795221_1747780588_n.jpg

Picture's source (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Precision-Flight-Training/229699817089197)

https://scontent-b-sea.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/1483220_615974195128422_1504483033_n.jpg

See lot's of additional pictures (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Precision-Flight-Training/229699817089197)

Also fir boughs are fun to watch being flown.

.

[wokkaboy]

The most impressive part is him finding the hook-on guy each time amongst all those trees!

[normalbloke]

That's easy, he has the pylons as a reference!.....

[500guy]

Its real. The scary part is that the season is only six weeks long and I've seen pilots fly 300 hours in that six week season doing trees!

Its an art, no doubt. The good ones dont overtorque it ever some of the novices might.

[SEIFR]

It all looks like alot of fun. Always wanted a chance to get good at the sling thing:) ...thanks for the info SLFool.

[normalbloke]

Thanks for the informative replies people. As I said, when I initially viewed it on a small screen, there was something about his turn at the loading point that looked 'non-genuine', hence asking the pros as opposed to jumping to conclusions! I'm not completely alien to utility work, having suffered 2500hrs+in the left seat carrying out pipeline patrols in the UK. Load slinging is very alien to me though. Thanks again, and have a cracking Crimbo!

[timprice]

Seem's to me these guys are very skilled and are working hard for the money and deserve every penny they get:ok:

[Bogey71]

I've been phascinated by this video for some time now, how do they do this?
Does he do this alone or is there someone at the ground over there hooking the trees to the line?
Christmas-tree harvest in Oregon | (http://www.crazyaviation.com/?p=670)
Regards
Chris

[helicopterray]

A guy will normally go out and put a fluorescent flag on the trees he wants taken out.
A logger will chop that tree down with a chainsaw.
A 'choker' will loop a lanyard around that tree and hook it up to the helicopter.

It is an elaborate production.

[Bogey71]

so you mean that is a common practice?
My first impression is that this guy made a sport out of it...

[Bogey71]

ah, just saw the other posts in front of mine :-)
Wow! Really impressive!

[rotorfan]

Can someone shed light on how the "gripper" works? I'm assuming it's electrically released at pilot command. Can the pilot actually see it open? What causes my wonder is that in several of the drops, it looks like the aircraft is already in an attitude to begin to transit back to the field at the time that the tree is dropped into the truck. If the gripper didn't open, and the tree is drug back out of the truck, or not :eek:, it would seem to be a nasty end to the day's work. Can the longline itself be pickled from the belly?

[Gordy]

The "gripper" as you call it is a remote hook, this is what we use, some are smaller.....

http://www.onboardsystems.com/media/products/6k_half-cage.png

It is on the end of the long line and released by a switch on the collective. If it fails then, yes, we can release the whole line from the hook in the belly by using either the electrical release switch on the cyclic or the emergency manual cable pull handle.

[MLHeliwrench]

Along a similar line: The good production pilots will place the external hook right in the riggers hands:

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Good safety video about heli-logging:

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[Checkboard]

Guy hauling Christmas trees ....

This Is Probably The Best Helicopter Pilot I've Ever Seen. You Have To Watch This! [VIDEO] (http://www.wimp.com/helicopterpilot/)

[fijdor]

Used to.

JD

Helicopter pilot hauling Christmas trees hurt in crash | Local & Regional News | Eugene News, Weather, Sports, Breaking News | KVAL CBS 13 (http://www.kval.com/news/local/133888968.html)

[John Eacott]

Blimey:

There is no word yet on the identity of the man. He was flown by LifeFlight to a Portland hospital. It's not known how badly he was hurt, although witnesses said he was able to climb out of the helicopter under his own power.


http://media.kval.com/images/Helicopter-Crash-3.jpg_BIM.jpg

[Bravo73]

Used to.

JD

Are you sure that this is the same pilot/aircraft combination as the original video?

[fijdor]

NTSB preliminary report.

No, not at all, There are many videos showing this kind of work, B206, H500. Obviously this one is a 206.
Those are old videos, 4 or 5 years old. This accident report dates from 2012.

JD

WPR12LA036 (http://www.ntsb.gov/aviationquery/brief.aspx?ev_id=20111115X85553&key=1)