VASILIS KRANITSAS PHOTOGRAPHY


Air Cranes, like the one shown here in


Greece in July 2020, are used to fight


wildland fires on five continents. The


aircraft’s 25,000-lb. payload, coupled


with its ability to refill water tanks in one


minute or less, makes it an effective


firefighting tool.


it actually flies like a little helicopter. It’s amazing what it’s capable of. It’s so incredibly overpowered. Te F model is certified for an external load of 25,000 lb., and it’ll do that quite handily, under certain conditions. It’s the best thing I’ve ever found,” says Chapman. Adding to the aircraft’s unique design, the Air Crane


features an aft-facing pilot seat for precision control of complex aerial heavy-lift operations such as transmission-line and infrastructure building projects. “Te big advantage is its productivity—the pounds per hour of wood, the picks per hour constructing towers, and the gallons per hour firefighting. It’s an expensive aircraft to operate, but when you compare its cost against hauling water in a truck or building roads or special scaffolding, it’s cheaper and faster,” says Chapman. “And it doesn’t have to be


26 ROTOR MARCH 2022


operations in rough terrain. We’ve built a lot of power lines on flat ground, setting as many as 105 structures in a day.”


Fifty Years Tackling Big Challenges Erickson doesn’t shy away from unusual or difficult projects. Its engineers, fabricators, pilots, and maintenance technicians tackle them with pride—from relocating a 1,091-lb. endan- gered rhino in Borneo to placing 300-ft. communication towers weighing up to 18,000 lb. in rural Alaska to restoring sod and tundra in the Arctic. Many times, accomplishing big missions means creating


custom solutions as the team did in 1993 when Erickson was asked to remove the US Capitol’s massive, 19.5-ft., 15,000-lb. Statue of Freedom for restoration. “I was involved in taking down and reinstalling the statue.


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