[TowerTalk] Steady Hand On The Stick Wow!!!!!

J. Hunt ki5dq at yahoo.com
Fri Oct 2 20:19:19 EDT 2015


The Pilot and Co-Pilot are very skilled. 
They appear to be in their 50's - 60's. All pilots required to have annual DOT physicals and certifications. 
Yes I would trust my life on those older pilots, much more so compared to a someone in their 20's or 30's. 
I am a veteran Tower Dog (still active) and would not hesitate a moment to be one of the guys within the mono-pole tube.

Any static build up between the helicopter and mono-pole is discharged through the out-reached grappling hook touching the dangling alignment cables.  This allows safe electrical discharge.  The grappling hook is electrically bounded to the mono-pole.

This is an excellent video from the technical side, displaying some of the huge dangers of this profession.

Thanks n 73,
James Hunt
ki5dq

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On Fri, 9/25/15, K7LXC--- via TowerTalk <towertalk at contesting.com> wrote:

 Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Steady Hand On The Stick Wow!!!!!
 To: towertalk at contesting.com
 Date: Friday, September 25, 2015, 4:15 PM
 
 >  I cannot imagine being up on that partially built tower depending on  a  helicopter to hold it steady while they bolted the sections together!   One  little shift in the wind.....
  
     Well, it's not quite that bad. The guys on  the tower are the ones with  control over the load which is in equilibrium. All  you have to do is push  or pull the load up or down or sideways and that's what  it does. It's  pretty easy - assuming of course that the helo isn't gyrating a  lot. 
  
     A potential problem is that the slung load  will build up a static  charge due to the large amount of air blowing by it. 
 If you don't dissipate the  charge, you'll get a real jolt. A local guy grabbed  the load without  discharging it and it knocked him out. Maybe it was his head  hitting the tower  but the end result was the same. 
  
     Fifteen or 20 years ago a small one rented for $450  an hour. I'll  guarantee it's lots more now. 
  
 Cheers,
 Steve     K7LXC
 TOWER TECH 
 
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