Helicopter logging

[KGNC]

Local paper had a write up on some helicopter logging.
I know it's old news to you west coast guys but this is the first I know of in our area.
 
http://www.wataugademocrat.com/2007/1217/loggingoperation.php

[Furby]

 
I'd love to see it in person, that and some high line logging.

[TexasTimbers]

That was interesting. The guy is making money the easy way. Just doing the deals without getting his hands dirty. That's the way most big money is made anyhow.

I suppose I am gonna wait on the fling wing myself. My LT40 can't process the 140,000BF a day.

[Reddog]

I'd love to see it in person, that and some high line logging.

Just go visit one of the BC folks.

[Furby]

Wish I could, oh how I wish I could!!!

[sawguy21]

It is really something to see. The weather is a big factor but if everything goes right, a skidder cannot keep up with a chopper. The turns need to be under three minutes to make it profitable so the hauls are short and the ground crew need to have the picks properly set up.Weight is crucial, too light does not pay and too heavy wastes time with aborted loads.
We still needed roads but they did not need to be built into sensitive areas. A processor and a butt'n'top loader at road side minimized the footprint, no need for a large landing.

[Danny Dimm]

Road side logging-12-15$ per meter. Skidder logging 18-25$  High lead 28 to 40 $  Helicopter 65 $ and up. The conditions have to be just right. Good wood, to expensive to build the roads. It's impressive to see though. Especialy the big skycrane. Packs 21000 lbs on a good day. A few years ago it was $10,000 per hour and I don't think that included the fuel. Did come with the rigging crew though as I recall.

[snowman]

When I was younger I did alot of falling for choppers.Great money, we averaged 300 a day.You get addicted to that THUMP THUMP THUMP.Everyone is at a dead run, it's all about keeping the bird moving, time is money.We usually hiked in at least an hour to get to our strips packing gas,oil ,water, tools etc and we kept 2 saws with us at all times.Im glad I did it, great fun.Downside is the danger, mostly for the pilot.Those guys are pushing the envelope bigtime. They die alot.Last chopper job I had the owner was to cheap to hire enough cutters and we were getting pushed bigtime. As soon as youd get a tree fell and bucked the chopper was right there and you had to hide behind a tree and hold your hardhat on as the chokker  setter did his thing.I quit over it telling the owner he was gonna get someone killed.He just rolled his eyes. A week later the chopper crashed when he came in to low trying to save time winching and prop hit a snag. He died of course and it's just amazing the cutter and hooker who were right there didn't too.Anyway, that was my last helilogging. THE END!

[sawguy21]

On our shows, the fallers came in ahead and were gone when the helicopter showed up. You are right, it is dangerous, high adrenaline work. A lot of things can go wrong. One rigger was killed at the landing when an 80' spruce slipped from the choker and cart wheeled across the ground. He had his back to the incoming load coiling chokers instead of clearing the area as he was supposed to. We lost a helicopter when the long line snagged and the machine pancaked before the pilot could punch the load. He survived.

[Danny Dimm]

The rotors create huge amount of static electricity in the right weather conditions. I've never set beads under a chopper but have friends that have. The charge just about knocks you on your but. The pilots must get a kick out of watching.

[Ron Wenrich]

We had 2 jobs that they used helicopters on, here in PA.   One was in a very rocky area that had never been cut.  I heard the timber was marginal, due to not enough dirt.  It was big white oak.

The other job was big cherry on one of the state parks.  Some of the cherry was in the 36-38" dbh range.  If I recall, it was either snow or wind that put these trees down.  They were cut and bucked before the choppers came in.

The logs were sold by bid.  They had to be moved in a week, and loading was not included in the price.  That removed alot of small loggers and was sort of a gift to the larger mills.  Not as many bidders.

[SwampDonkey]

I don't think they have done heli-logging here in NB, as soon as you climb above 300 m in elevation the timber goes to crap. Any place around here you can't get a road or ground machine to isn't worth cutting either.

[sawguy21]

The rotors create huge amount of static electricity in the right weather conditions. I've never set beads under a chopper but have friends that have. The charge just about knocks you on your but. The pilots must get a kick out of watching.

You got that right. It is a real problem in the dry cold of the Arctic. Some groundies have a length of light aircraft cable tied to a grapple hook. They tag the cage on the longline hook with it first.

[Ron Scott]

The US Forest Service uses helicopters here for fish habitat improvement projectson our river systems. Large red pine are cut before hand and then a helicoter comes in and picks up the full tree lengths and relocates them to selected river sections for tree revetments along the river banks.

We also did some helo logging in the inassessable mountain areas West Virginia.

[Tillaway]

I had one year before last.   One log would make a full turn over about 1/3 of the sale so it was well suited for the ship that was used.  This allowed the company to use a grapple instead of chokers much of the time.

The cutters were in about a month or so before the ship arrived, about 20 of them and they were well paid.  Two hour hike in and out every day.
 
They had two pilots that rotated 10 day shifts and flew 10 hours plus per day.  They made something like $4500 a month plus around $80 hour for flight time and $140 per-Diem.

They had about six guys chasing on the landing with four of them unbuttoning turns and coiling chokers and a couple more limbing and bucking what the cutters could not do.  Two shovels, one picking apart the turns and passing the logs back to the other that sorted, decked and loaded trucks.

They had about four hookers out in the brush setting chokers and hooking the turns.  Each one would hook for a cycle then set chokers until their next cycle, about three hours later.   

[Danny Dimm]

Several years back the fellow who owned the local helicopter [has since died] was heli logging in northern BC in the winter. He was using a grapple and on the flight in to work one morning he looked down and saw three moose that had fallen through the ice while crossing a frozen piece of water. He grappled them out and to the bank and dropped off some hay the next morning. As I recall two out of the three lived.

[theorm]

DD,

Wouldn't that fall under the category of moose logging?

 

Theo

[KGNC]

I talked to my BIL at the family get together. He was talking to the land owner of the tract being logged in the article. Said they had 18 guys on the ground feeding that chopper.

[Danny Dimm]

When your paying 6 to 10 thousand per hour or more for a big bird - guys are cheap.