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See: Slingloading: Techniques & Information



Heliport

I just bought myself a book "Mountain Flying and Advanced Techniques" by Norman Bailey. Talk abou learning to run before I can walk, but I figured there's no such thing as too much information, and it was something I fancied learning about. There's a section in it on underslung loads.

Si

Parachute ? Probably not - it will just do its own flying = create its own problems.
A concrete bucket sounds like an ideal slingload. Can't really imagine how it should start a fore-aft movement ... unless you fly very fast ?

Hello Everyone,

Two things I was told long ago with long line operations. 1) When you think you are going to slow, slow down. 2) Light hands make light work. I remind myself of these rules whenever I strap myself in to lift anything. The second you rush yourself into anything it gets messy. And when you have to deliver the hook to old mates hand 200 times a day it pays to be accurate. As far as light hands goes, the less that stick moves the more efficient the disc is. aka More lift. I physically say it out load to myself whenever I am setting something heavy or trying to pick it up. Crazy I know but it works for me. Just my two cents.

European Long Liners
 

Hello All,

If a guy was looking to get some external load work done in London and Paris can anyone suggest a good outfit that might be capable of such a task. All I really need is a jetranger or 500 and an experienced long line pilot. Hopefully thats not too tall an order. Thanks.

Sure
Helog of Switzerland is a good company.

How do you do longline work in London with a Jetranger? Would the Crats Against Aviation not have a coronary if asked to approved such a thing?

So am I safe to say that there is no company in or around london that can do the job. It is not a heavy load or a precision placement job. I just need someone with experience.

As the man said, it depends where, but we've got a couple of longliners here, not that far away in Canadian terms!

Phil
(Albert Ross)

Where are you based lucky Phil?

I'm in Bristol, with this lot, about 2 hours' driving West from the London area, with a couple of light 206's and Twinstars. One of us has longlined in the desert with lamas and I've done it in Canada with Yellowhead, Remote and Cougar.

Our AOC doesn't cover us for Paris yet, but I can get an exemption or do it with someone else's.

Phil

Mine does though!. Remember your still checked out with us Phil.
Talk to me and I will see what I can do to help.:ok:

Thanks guys,

Good to know you are there. I will be in touch if this goes ahead. Could be quite a bit of flying if all goes well.

Long Line Pilots Who Wear Spectacles
 

Having reached that stage in life where, whilst flying, I am required by law to wear spectacles that correct for both distant and near vision I am now trying to discover the best way to 'fly a longline'.

I wear 'progressive' correcting lenses but find it difficult/uncomfortable to get my head in a suitable position to focus on the hook some 160 to 200 feet below the helicopter.

I have thought about trying tri-focal lenses with a distant correction prescription at the top and at the bottom of the lense together with the near correction area in the middle, but tri-focals are a fairly large investment to test a theory.

There must be someone out there who has already 'been there and done that'! Anyone care to share his (or her) solution?

You could try Varifocals, although they take some getting used to.
Having passed that magic age when your arms aren't long enough to let you focus on the Sunday papers, I found that I also required a minor correction for distand vision so tried varifocals. Once I got over the initial "weird" feel, they are great for office work, driving and flying. Not sure how good they would be for long line work though!

Dare I suggest longlining with mirrors :8

Hey There SS,

A dude that worked for me had the same problem. His eye Doc had him put marks on a pair of glasses which represented his normal "field of view" while long linin'. Using those marks, the Doc super-glued "add-on" corrective lens segments to try out. Once he was comfortable with the field of view they custom ground a permanent set of glasses that he uses for flyin'. He claims no problems in lookin' at the gauges or the overhead panels and can still feel comfortable leanin' out all day.

So..., that's just one dude's solution - there's probably a lot more out there.

Good luck!

SS,

I have a similar problem (only 100' lines, we haven't progressed past that, thanks!) and had a lot of trouble allowing for bifocals when slinging. These days, I just use a "normal" pair of glasses, or none at all, when lifting, and squint at the gauges :rolleyes:

No Name, that sounds a solution, but the fields of view through the lenses must be a pain to get used to!

Bomber,

You are joking.........:p

I use a set of glasses....bifocals with a larger bifocal set for the gauges...plays havoc on the medical...no reading something at 18cm's...have to stick my arms out to read....at which point the Quack squawks! The Bifocal sets a touch lower than normal...that allows me to see over the top of them when looking out and down onto the longline. Now if I could just bend over around the residue of 10,000 gallons of beer.....it would work a charm.:ok:

Hey John,

He claimed it wasn't all that bad - just had to learn to move his head a bit more. Kinduv like NVGs with a lot more peripheral vision. He also said it helped a whole bunch after we set all the gauges at "12:00".

Sorry there SAS, no help for the second problem - can't drink beer. Caused me to have hallucinations of waking up next to these huge, long haired, grotesque lookin' she-beasts. Remember the scene when Luke Skywalker wakes up in the ice cave on Hoth? Yeah, somethin' like that :uhoh: