This is something you don't see every day, a Sky Crane at work.

[highway]

I had quite a surprise today when I took my fiancee to work, I found out there was a Sky Crane helicopter working in the area, and the LZ was not even a mile from her job! When we first seen it, she seen the chopper first and said "Look at that funny looking helicopter" and just about the same time I seen it and said "That's a Sky Crane!". Well, I dropped her off at work and was heading home when I seen the Sky Crane hovering near a water tower, and I was pulled in like a moth to a flame! I took a few (bad) pics with my phone and then asked one of the guys directing traffic near where they were picking up from if they were doing more and found they were and hurried home to get my good camera. Anyway, here is a video I took with my camera, it's not the greatest, but all I have for video is the same camera I take my still pics with.

EDIT: To view the video, click on it and it will open a new window to it in my Photobucket album. There is also another video in the album to, it's 10 minutes long and shows the Sky Crane getting refueled between trips also. If you want to skip the (boring) refueling, advance the video to around the 7:00 minute mark.

Here are some of the still pics.

Those last two pics show just how close I was able to get to watch it lift the loads, I was parked along the side of the road and only about 100 yards away and it almost flew directly over me and the rotor wash would have blown my hat off if I would not have turned it around in time!!

I don't know exactly what it was that was being moved, I'm guessing some power line towers, or where they were taking them, but it was only about 10 minutes for it to make a complete round. I'm watching the local 11:00PM news and see if they say anything in more detail.

EDIT#2: I also found the name painted on the nose of this Sky Crane ironic, Icabod!!

Edited October 6, 2011 by highway

[SuperStockAndy]

I've never even seen one of those, but it looks cool...

[High octane]

While I've never used a Sky Crane before, I have worked with helicopters when I was doing construction work. We used them to place heating/AC units on rooftops and also to remove debris from roofs. They aren't cheap to rent, however they work much faster than a crane and can land a load anywhere therefore saving labor costs.

[Erik Smith]

Cool. I work in wildland fire suppression and I have the opportunity to work with a number of sky cranes. They have a belly tank with a snorkel to pull water in and doors to let it go. I worked a fire in Yellowstone one year about 1 mile north of Yellowstone lake. I had two sky cranes and a bell 212 with a bucket and could hardly keep up with them as they can fill the tanks and return so fast.

[Aaronw]

Well some of us do.

They are pretty neat, I always think they look like giant grasshoppers.

[highway]

Well some of us do.

They are pretty neat, I always think they look like giant grasshoppers.

Ok, you got me there, but for most of us it's not a normal sight!! :lol:

I'm just wondering if that is the same one, I noticed it was from Erickson Air Crane, and when I asked some of the crew if I could get some (horrible because of fading light) close ups and if it would be working in the area again tomorrow, they said they were heading back home out West. This was about the best close up I could get of it on the ground.

[ChrisR]

Appears to be the same one if you look at the registration number.

[Aaronw]

Erickson has a bunch of them, at least a dozen just in the US. They are located in Oregon and are actually modeler friendly even having a page dedicated to modelers.

http://www.ericksonaircrane.com/modelerzone.php

I don't think the one you saw is the same as the one in my photo. Not all have a name, and I would have remembered a name like Ichabod.

[Aaronw]

Appears to be the same one if you look at the registration number.

Appears to be the same one if you look at the registration number.

I think you are seeing the tank number (737) on my photo, I can't read the reg number anyway. The tanks are individually numbered so they can be used on different airframes and do not match the aircraft registration number.

The landing gear is different too. The single wheels are used on the older Sikorsky built S-64E, the twin landing gear is used on the Erickson built S-64F.

[ChrisR]

You are right. I were comparing the wrong photos and looking at the number N957AC.

[Dr. Cranky]

Nice modeling subject for sure. Great pics, thanks for sharing them.

[Romell R]

kool! Nice Air Crane, we see em alot around here fighting wild fires.

[Ben]

Very cool, I have a Skycrane built, hanging in my model room. When they were building the Lowe's home improvement store across from where I work, they used a helicopter to put the roof AC units on. It wasn't a Skycrane but it was still cool to watch! Those pilots have some serious skills!!!!!!