Sikorsky H-34 downtown Chicago

[Arizona_928]

Watched this guy remove the letters off the top of a building. Posting to appreciate the skills.

[Seahawk]

I hope that is the turbine powered model!

Looks like fun.

[mjohnson]

We've got most of the skycranes in the US down here in NM doing fire duty and - wow - aren't they impressive machines?!

And above here in this post, taking place in a city? Back in a previous life I did vulnerability stuff and we had to score things. Fly helicopter, 6/10. Land helicopter, 8/10. Land helicopter near/on buildings, 12/10. Be able to walk away after playing around and on buildings, 13/10.

[sc_rufctr]

That looks really dangerous. Do these pilots have a special licence?

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by mjohnson

We've got most of the skycranes in the US down here in NM doing fire duty and - wow - aren't they impressive machines?!

And above here in this post, taking place in a city? Back in a previous life I did vulnerability stuff and we had to score things. Fly helicopter, 6/10. Land helicopter, 8/10. Land helicopter near/on buildings, 12/10. Be able to walk away after playing around and on buildings, 13/10.

They are really something. I have only seen one fly once and it was so cool.

Neat job, btw!

Originally Posted by sc_rufctr

That looks really dangerous. Do these pilots have a special licence?

Interesting question. I never flew commercially so I don't know. It is a lot like mountain flying, btw, which is a recurring qual in helos: Odd, shifting winds, localized down drafts, distractions, confined area, etc.

There are a lot of "quals" in flying that have time based expiration: Shipboard landing (day/night), NVG's, etc. Pilot skills do rust

[bob deluke]

Years ago when I was in the commercial HVAC business as a service manager, we had a huge contract to install 20 large Carrier rooftop units on a building. My boss hired a helo company out of Penn. to set the units. We had three guys on the ground hooking up the units, three on the roof to place the units on the curb. Helo pilot and a spotter on the roof, one guy hanging out the side door talking to the spotter and directing the pilot. Whole process took about 2 hours. When done, the helo flew back to Penn. As i recall, the tab was about $6-8K at that time about 25 years ago. Amazing skills watching these guys work.

[KNS]

I don't think there's any piston powered, radial engine S-58s around anymore and only a handful of the turbine powered ones. The turbine conversions are actually a PT6 Twin pack (two engines).

I remember as a kid watching LA County Sheriff fly those around LA County and up into the mountains in SoCal

You need a Commercial or ATP certificate and your company would have to have a Part 133 Air Agency certificate to fly external loads.

[greglepore]

The Pa company was likely Carson, who appears to own the unit in the photo. https://www.carsonhelicopters.com/

[wilnj]

Originally Posted by bob deluke

Years ago when I was in the commercial HVAC business as a service manager, we had a huge contract to install 20 large Carrier rooftop units on a building. My boss hired a helo company out of Penn. to set the units. We had three guys on the ground hooking up the units, three on the roof to place the units on the curb. Helo pilot and a spotter on the roof, one guy hanging out the side door talking to the spotter and directing the pilot. Whole process took about 2 hours. When done, the helo flew back to Penn. As i recall, the tab was about $6-8K at that time about 25 years ago. Amazing skills watching these guys work.

That seems awfully cheap. About the same time, I was pricing out lifting scenarios for landing HVAC equipment on a building, the 500T mobile cranes were not yet in the market so I priced out a helicopter vs a 300T crane and dunnage across the roof to put the equipment where it was supposed to go.

As I recall, just getting the crew, equipment to the worksite would have been about as much as you quoted and the whole job was about twice that.

Ultimately, the determining factor was lining up all of the support for helo lift wasn't worth it and so we went with more conventional methods.

[Pazuzu]

I did HVAC many many moons ago, in Chicago. We had a few helos helping over the years.

The pilots (at least then, 1990s) were all Vietnam era helo pilots, who were cool as cucumbers under any conditions. You could stand on the ground and hold your hand out and they could drop the ball hook right in your outstretched hand if you wanted them to, while flying between buildings.

You wouldn't, because the static charge on that ball would knock you back if it touched you, but they could...

[sc_rufctr]

Looking at those photos... I keep thinking of that Chernobyl helicopter.

[Arizona_928]

Originally Posted by sc_rufctr

Looking at those photos... I keep thinking of that Chernobyl helicopter.

Yeah he was maybe 20-30 ft away from the side of that building at all times. Gust of wind was instantly corrected. It was beautiful to watch the perfection.

[bob deluke]

Wilnj,
Price could have been higher for helo rental I suppose, but that number stuck in my head. That was over 25 years ago, I was much younger and had more brain cells! The building was in a shopping mall and police were there keeping traffic away from the building. We ended up giving the police dept. a ‘donation’ for their help. A lot of organization went into the lift. We were on the local news that same night and the boss was interviewed on live tv. Our service trucks were in on site displaying our companies name and we ended up getting got a lot of business from that exposure. Fun times…

[aschen]

super cool sighting, its always amazing to me how long some of these aircraft stay in service.

Google says sikorsky quit making these in the early 70s and they were made under license until the 80s.

So this machine could be 50ish years old? What percent by weight is original mfg?

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by aschen

So this machine could be 50ish years old? What percent by weight is original mfg?

I did a three year tour as the Chief Government Pilot at the Sikorsky Factory in Bridgeport, CT.

Helicopter air frames are actually fairly simple in design and execution: Depending on the environment they fly in and level of maintenance, at least 10,000 hours before the first Depot/OEM rework is average for the air frame, at least H-60's. We extended the life of a number of SH-60B air frames based on inspection to 12,000 hours before overhaul.

Dynamic components (engines, transmissions, drive shafts, rotor heads components and blades etc.) are all life limited and replaced either on condition of inspection or at a certain hour total.

The hard stuff is wiring and flight avionics...the Air Force wrote the book. They called it the "Aging Aircraft Multiplier" and they were right. It is the little things that make flying old military aircraft expensive.

The H-3 Presidential Helos (the white tops), are old old but incredibly well maintained. They entered service in 1977.

[GG Allin]

Originally Posted by greglepore

The Pa company was likely Carson, who appears to own the unit in the photo. https://www.carsonhelicopters.com/

https://midwesthelicopters.com/home/

[reachme]

I passed the Sikorsky building many times in Stratford crossing that bridge and craning my neck to see what was in their massive lot.
Funny story, a family friend was the on staff artist for Sikorsky painting what the finished helicopter would look like. His kids had no interest in what he did for work so he started putting a tiny ant hidden in each and then his kids would try to find it each time. I heard one time they made a giant poster for a presentation and it was found out.