When I owned my 280 I had a Clarke hoist from Machine Mart fitted to the back of the hanger, extended the hand control unit and with a rope that went round the skids.
Stand at the tail, pull down onto its own wheels and operate the winch with other hand and in she goes. A pulley fitted to the outer edge of the pad allows a similar method to pull out of the hanger. The whole system cost less than £ 200.00

John's dolly...
 

Well constructed, and plenty of room...

"A surprising number of helicopters destroyed and/or pilots killed attempting to land on a dolly. Why take the risk?"

A fairly basic skill for a commercial utility pilot... You would have no hope landing on an exploration pad if you couldn't land on this dolly.
However, good airmanship from those who feel they are not up to it, and choose to move the aircraft by other means.

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a3/...tos/Hems-4.jpg

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a3/...s/Hems-4-2.jpg

And look how well you lined it up, Mike ;)

Something nice about seeing things done properly.

There is also remote control dolly called heliwagon , so you don't have to even get out to drive tractor ...
Open hanger door by remote control and drive dolly straight in ...

Ha ha ...
I think from memory its heliwagon.com or net... Google it maybe ...
I know they not cheap though ....

Skids aligned to sumting.........well done (that's the only way; be precise)

Landing a twin Squirrel by night, on a dark blue steel mesh trolley on an unlit helipad was always something I hated doing. Especially as the damned thing was over two feet off the ground. It was too small for the pilot to see any visual cues once over it.

Thankfully, it's hydraulic drive engine failed terminally after a couple of years, with the aircraft on it, parked by myself, halfway on its way into the hangar for the night. So the owners, the police, had to guard their base all night because the whole place was now insecure and the aircraft was now offline until an engineer could free off the hydraulics the following morning. They finally took my longstanding advice and bought an electric Heli-lift with a remote control.

Yes, there is: http://www.heliwagon.com/ A great source of entertainment at our local airport is to watch pilots for a gov. agency attempt to land on the Heliwagon on a gusty day. So far, they have never failed but great motivation for using an AviGround, Heliporter, or any of several other similar helo moving devices. This would be true of any raised dolly type device, not just a Heliwagon. BTW, looks like the Heliwagon sells for something in the $20,000 to $30,000 U.S. depending on size and options. I have had a close look at the Heliwagon and it appears to be a quality piece; however, put a skid in the wrong place and this wont matter much.

Or you could modify an electric pallet truck, which can be bought for a few hundred pounds on Ebay.

Hi has anyone go or know if anyone in the UK with a helicopter dolly for sale the flat type please

600

what do you mean by flat ? One of my old customers has a very nice one about 12 x 12 with 10 inch wheels

500 that sounds like I am looking for can you pm me the details please

Steve

There are some round the back at AML which if you are in York is only just down the road to you !


E.

Hi

Built 2 of these at home

2x4 softwood sleepers, 50mm angle iron rails, wielded together to length, v up, drilled and screwed to sleepers
Steel v wheels, from ebay, to suit rails
I have design for platform, mine clad with 6x 8x4 sheets of shuttering ply 18mm, planted with non slip paint (sand text)
1x toolstation winch, modified with extra long drum and extended control cable
Pulley beyond end of rails, pulls out and back
Bump stop at end of travel, winch hard against to secure platform

Very important to have rails dead flat at landing position to ensure all wheels in solid contact. No ground resonance
Overall cost ?, sub £1000 ?

Can send drawings and images

I land 1650 kg turbine, every few days for 8+ yrs

[email protected]
Ian

Many thanks everyone. Now managed to get one thanks to pprune

Dear Sir,

I would like to fabricate a moveable Helicopter dolly for a Bell 407. Am based in India, Would you by any chance have a fabrication drawing and the material specs to be used. Would really appreciate if you can help. Thank you.- John

One Dolly I used to land a BO-105 upon had a fiberglass rod whip sticking up in front of the Pilot's side Windscreen for use in line up and fore/aft placement.

We moved the aircraft forward until the Whip touched the Windscreen frame and checked for proper lateral alignment before setting down.

It took a few times to sort it all out but upon doing do landing back after dark with only the aircraft lights and the odd Flood Light near the Hangar was easy enough.

Throw in gusty winds, rain, and snow at 0300 after a long day......and it was a bit sporty but worked.

That Dolly also ran on rails and had a remote controlled winch with auto stops at each end.....with the remote being stowed in the cockpit till needed.

It was nice not having to go out into the weather to a cold soaked aircraft or clean snow/ice off it before flight.

The key to the Dolly thing is to make them plenty big.....as big as you can and still maneuver it in and around as need be.