A video from the FlyingMAir YouTube channel.
I was fortunate enough to spend a lot of time yesterday with a Huey pilot who had just finished up his cherry drying contract and was prepping to take the helicopter back to Montana. We traded favors: he let me fly his Huey (video to come) in exchange for me helping him to get his helicopter trailer under the Huey while it was supported from a crane. You see, my truck has a gooseneck hitch in its bed, which is the one thing he needed that he didn’t have. (I think I got the better deal.)
In any case, as part of the day’s activities, I set up my BOGO iPhone in time-lapse mode on a tripod while he prepped the crane truck and helicopter and lifted the helicopter onto the trailer. What took a lot longer than an hour is condensed down to just 36 seconds here. Enjoy.
I don’t know much about this helicopter except that it’s a 1962 Bell UH-1 that saw action — with the bullet holes to prove it — in Vietnam and Nicaragua. It’s got a bare bones interior with just two pilot seats and a big empty cargo area. It holds about 125 gallons of fuel, which it burns off in about 90 minutes and costs approximately $1200/hour to operate. It usually cruises at 60 to 80 knots.
This is one of the video “extras” I release on the FlyingMAir YouTube channel midweek. I normally release cockpit POV videos on Sunday mornings. I hope you’ll check them out.
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Great video Maria. That was the same model Huey (UH-1B) that I was a door gunner on in Vietnam. How does that compare to the R-44 for cherry drying?
You know, someone on YouTube insisted it was a C model but I could swear the pilot told me it was a B.
It can cover roughly 3 to 4 times the amount of acreage I can but costs at least three times as much to operate.
FAA says “B”. https://bit.ly/2KvTzTH
Not surprised. We all know how many experts can be found on the Internet.
When I worked for an Ag spraying company that had 206B3s, they would fly them on and off the trailers. Always fun to watch because it was quite a precision fit go get the skid tubes in the channels where they sat. And the nose was close to the vertical part of the hitch at the front of the trailer. Not a lot of room for errors.
I’ve landed on a trailer and routinely landed on a tow dolly — as I think you still do? This particular trailer was a really tight fit — no room for error. It made sense to lift it up. I’m very glad I don’t need to tow mine.
What amazes me is the ag spray pilots who land atop trucks to get fuel and chemicals. I really need to capture some of that action.
Hi, Mike and Maria.
I really liked to learn that this old icon of aviation was still flying for its keep.
If metal could talk? What a story!
I bet Sean C. is out there somewhere just waiting to sharpen his iPad finger…
Good wishes to all aviators who survive that era.