VOLO MISSION PHOTO
Ground and Air Operations
Depending on location and other variables, projects of the scale of the Watay Project require extensive planning, surveys, and permitting processes that can take months or years. Once the project is ready to begin, clearing the 130-ft. right-of-way starts. Workers using feller bunchers (harvesters used in logging) remove the sellable timber and use bulldozers to clear brush and smaller trees. Crews take additional care around riparian zones, minimizing disruption to lakes, ponds, streams, and wetlands. Once sections of right-of-way are ready,
construction can begin. Tis is when helicopter activity really starts to pick up. Te helicopters on the Watay Project work in sections, often hopscotching each other. Rotorcraft will bring compressors, generators, and earth-moving
Two ground crews often work
together to set the towers, jumping past one another to keep the flight operations as efficient as possible. Other ground crews may follow, adjusting and tightening the guy wires to straighten the towers and prepare them for line stringing using the sock lines. Working in Northwestern Ontario
A pilot’s perspective of what a load and landing zone look like at the Volo Mission training site. A pilot’s input on flight controls takes time to reach the load.
equipment to help prepare the base for each tower. Once the base is ready, a Super Puma carries
Rotor 1.3 page ad 2022 copy.pdf 1 8/5/22 11:19 AM
to each site steel-lattice, guyed V towers at the end of a longline. With the pilot flying the load from above, ground crews move the tower into position, then attach the guy lines. While the Super Puma retrieves the next tower, the ground crews move to the next site.
in the summer means a long day. Tat provides opportunities to accomplish more work but also means tired pilots and maintenance
personnel. “Sunrise comes around 5 to 5:30 each morning,” says Brown. “We hold our daily safety meeting, then try to get skids and wheels up around 6 am. We run 14-hour duty days, but we shut down for level checks and other maintenance inspections around noon. We have a fatigue management plan in place, so we want to make sure the crews are properly rested.”
C M Y CM MY CY CMY K
Log onto
rotor.org/ benefi ts to fi nd this great deal,
only for HAI members. Questions? Contact
member@rotor.org
SEPTEMBER 2022 ROTOR 31
HAI MEMBERS Save $$$ on Your Online Helicopter FIRC
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76
