Ain't technology amazing!

[DonandBonnie]

Left our campground in Kimbolton, Ohio heading to town one day last week. A couple of miles up the road we get stopped by a highway flagman. Seems like its a tree trimming company clearing the branches encroaching on the power lines. As we wait there is a helicopter just above the tree line with a gizmo hanging below that's cutting limbs of all sizes and shapes. The gizmo was a bar about 20-30 feet tall with a bunch of rotating large circular saw blades. This thing reminded us of an oversized hedge trimmer. It cleared the quarter mile in front of us in about a minute. Wow!

[BB_TX]

Have never seen that on a helicopter before. That would take some precision flying.
They do use those on tractors around here to basically "mow" the overhanging tree limbs on narrow county roads.

[HOOK]

You have to watch us helicopter guys!

[K0LCB]

Whirlybird pilots have no fear! If they had good sense they would walk

[DonandBonnie]

Had a friend who has passed away now who flew Huey's in Nam. He bet an F4 pilot a case of beer that he could fly his Huey to 10,000 ft. first. The F4 pilot took the bet and lost. My friend said (I'll clean this up a bit.) that the F4 pilot forgot that he had to fly horizontal before he could fly vertical. I could only imagine the sensation in that chopper just before and as it lifted off. Bet the crew felt they were going to be forced through the floor from the G force. Yep, chopper jockeys definitely have a loose wing.

[halfwright]

I don't understand how the blade was cutting oss limbs that were encroaching pn the power lines. Those limbs would have to be below the lines.

[DQDick]

Saw a similar rig on tractors this winter in Yuma. The tractor drives down the row between the orange trees and spinning blades top and trim the sides of the trees on either side. That's how the orange groves out here all have square trees.

[richfaa]

It is true.. Look around the internet

It is an aerial tree trimmer suspended from a helicopter that uses giant saw blades to shear off branches where they're encroaching on power lines.

"A gang of 10 blades 25 inches in diameter each, so you have a cutting surface of roughly 20 feet, and that's extended from the aircraft by a series of aluminum booms," Ted McAllister of Aerial Solutions, Inc. said.




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The blades spin at 2,400 revolutions a minute, moving up and down to cut back tree limbs under the control of a skilled pilot who leans out of his aircraft to watch his progress.

"The aerial saw is able to turn around and cut from the top down and get a nice clean cut," Scott Wirs, JCP&L Regional Supervisor, said
everything is there.

[Ram189]

They do that in Maryland with the Transmission lines, the big cross country lines. That is the only time I have seen them used around here. It is impressive to watch.

[Hooker]

quote:Originally posted by DonandBonnie

Had a friend who has passed away now who flew Huey's in Nam. He bet an F4 pilot a case of beer that he could fly his Huey to 10,000 ft. first. The F4 pilot took the bet and lost. My friend said (I'll clean this up a bit.) that the F4 pilot forgot that he had to fly horizontal before he could fly vertical. I could only imagine the sensation in that chopper just before and as it lifted off. Bet the crew felt they were going to be forced through the floor from the G force. Yep, chopper jockeys definitely have a loose wing.

That makes for a good story...but it's not true. I've flown Hueys and jets and as much as I love the Huey, it never out climbed an F4.

[pineranch]

Here ya go

http://m.youtube.com/watch?autoplay=1&v=Sp0DqARvjwY

Mike

[DonandBonnie]

Yep, that's it.

[MIMF]

That looks like it would be really dangerous! That pilot had better know what he is doing. I would think that if he got that thing tangled in those power lines.......POOF!

[jswharton]

Straight from James Bond!

[Hooker]

That helicopter is a Hughes 500...a civilian version of the Army's OH6. It was a scout in VN, flew with one pilot, who controlled a mini gun, and a crew chief/gunner who had an M60 (7.62) machine gun. It was part of a hunter/killer team with a mission of flying low and slow to locate the bad guys and maybe draw some fire from them. Once the bad guys were located, a team of two attack helicopters, AH 1G Cobras who were orbiting above the OH6, would take it from there. In the event of a shoot down and/or crash, the OH6 was known as the most survivable helicopter in VN.

[Artemus Gordon]

Don't let Hollywood see one of those! I can just see The Walking Deads next season!