OPPOSITE: COLUMBIA HELICOPTERS/DAN SWEET; RIGHT: VALARD CONSTRUCTION PHOTO
SEE
the Impact the Watay Project
Will Have on First Nations Communities
T
A Columbia Helicopters Model 234 Chinook (left) delivers a 16,000-lb. steel-lattice tower to a site in Alberta, Canada. Pilots on utility projects (right) often fly from the left seat, allowing them to maintain direct visual operational control of the load while piloting the helicopter.
HE DAYS START EARLY and can end late on the Wataynikaneyap Transmission Project, or Watay Project, an effort to supply reliable electric power to 17 remote communities in Canada. Tese localities extend across a 500-
mile arc located north of the town of Red Lake and stretching east over the remote forests and lakes of west-central Ontario. Many communities, especially the northernmost, lack utility corridors and all-season road access, instead relying fully on power from diesel generators. During the winter, diesel can only be trucked in on ice roads or flown in at twice the expense. Many utility or construction projects
cross stark, sparsely populated areas, but working in roadless areas means ground-based equipment may be limited to highways and staging areas. While the arc of the Watay Project is 500 miles long, the entire project requires the installation of more than 4,800 steel towers onto right-of-ways stretching about 1,100 miles. Installation of sub- stations and distribution lines round out the project. Mitch Brown is the director of heli-
copter operations for Valard Construction, a Canadian utility contractor based in Calgary, Alberta, and the primary con- tractor for the Watay Project. “We have 5 of our own helicopters working on this project, and we’ve had subcontractors providing up to 20 other helicopters at the same time. We’ve had at least 3 aircraft work through the winter as well,” he says, describing the project’s scope. Houston-based Quanta Services is
a parent company to some of the top names in the helicopter utility industry, including Valard Construction; PJ Helicopters of Red Bluff, California; Winco Powerline Services of Aurora, Oregon; Haverfield Aviation of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania; and Luma Utilities in Puerto Rico. “We offer a full range of helicopter services to the utility community,” says Spencer Duke, VP of aviation services for Quanta.
Working to Scale Utility and construction work with helicopters varies dra- matically by project. In some cases, such as installing a communication tower, the job involves one helicopter setting
vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft to land in con- fined areas allows them to carry workers and hand tools to clear a landing site. Ten, heavier helicopters can deliver the equipment and supplies needed to prepare tower sites. When concrete is necessary to establish bases for certain towers, helicopters carry buckets of concrete to the ground crews to direct into the ground or forms. Utility helicopter companies can sometimes conduct smaller projects from parking lots or staging sites near roads. Pilots and maintenance crews might stay in commercially available accommodations. Larger projects often require significantly more planning to provide food and housing for
SEPTEMBER 2022 ROTOR 27
a single load, or pick. Tere might be multiple picks from one staging area for other projects, such as setting heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) units or ski-lift towers. Utility helicopters are also used to set communication structures in remote areas, support petroleum exploration operations in roadless areas in South America and the South Pacific, and provide transportation and logistical support in the Arctic and Antarctic. On a power-line tower project, rotorcraft might be used for planning, mapping, and surveying. Te unique ability of
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