Ya gotta see this video! UNBELIEVABLE!!!

[CCC4]

This guy is awesome!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08K_aEajzNA

[goose63]

Makes me think he could of been a dust off pilot in Nam

[CCC4]

Exactly!! Talk about an adrenaline rush!!! I would be screaming at the top of my lungs! !

[beenthere]

Incredible performance.
What is the connect and disconnect for those bundles of trees? Magnetic? or something else to be so quick?

[celliott]

Here's a video, probably not the same guy, but same operation view from the copter 
Doesn't seem like he's going as fast as the guy in CCC4's vid but I bet he is.
Pretty cool stuff!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPO9pVwoxVg

[Swatson]

Wow!  That is amazing!  I cant think fast enough to even think about doing what he is doing.  I imagine he has one brave hook up guy catching the cable in the trees and a remote electric hook release.

[Peter Drouin]

 

[1270d]

That man has more than a few hours in the seat!

[JDeere]

A friend of mine has a Bell Jet Ranger and they are unbelievably expensive to fly. Can't imagine what that adds to the cost of a Christmas tree.

[beenthere]

JDeere
Time is money in that game. Imagine the number of people handling and moving trees from those piles to that truck to make up for the few minutes the copter cost. Likely more than covers the cost of the copter or they wouldn't be doing it that way. ;)

[lopet]

X2


He makes three trips in one minute. Probably less than five minutes to load a truck.

[NWP]

Wow. There was another video that popped up as a suggested video on the right side while I was watching this one that was about 8 minutes long and it was shot from the helicopter. It showed the hook guy and the trees swinging into the truck. Pretty cool too.

[timberlinetree]

Look like it's not his first day on the job! Wow he is good! Thanks for posting!

[JDeere]

JDeere
Time is money in that game.

Sounds a lot like logging.

[SliverPicker]

I love it! He's swinging that load in there just like its a grapple on a loader or forwarder.  Pretty cool!

[pine]

Definitely not his first rodeo!

[Gadrock]

I never flew a rotor craft...only straight wings. Some had round motors ...some were flat ones. Several thousand hours of flying and there is one thing like this video that reminds me of what I did...the shortest amount of time to do the job. On my farm I took off and landed in about 12 minutes, which allowed for 2 1/2 minutes of application time of chemicals. You math wizez can figure out how much was sprayed at about 140 mph and 50 foot wings.

Helo guy was sure nuff exciting to watch though.

David Gaddis

carry on

[Ljohnsaw]

Now that looks like fun!

[mad murdock]

The remote hook is actuated by an electric solenoid tripped by the pilot.  It has a mechanical camover mechanism that locks it and the solenoid trips it, with a spring to reset it automatically, or a counterweight on the portion of the hook that pivots to open and close, depending on the manufacturer.  Onboard Systems of Vancouver, WA makes most of the remote hooks used by operators these days, we have a couple of them where I work. I am glad we did not lift trees again this year, as it is really hard on the aircraft, not by any shock or hard pull, because the pilots are all pretty smooth, but just by the sheer number of torque events in a day, day in and day out, it wears out components prematurely, which are expensive to replace.

[redneck]

fancy Flying!.   I have worked on my grandfather Christmas tree farm and have broken a  few tops by hand.  hard to believe that loading them that way doesn't damage the leaders.  I am sure they wouldn't be doing it if it doesn't make them money