When I lived in Colorado, a friend of a friend was the mechanic for a logging helicopter. He would visit when they were logging near by. They mostly worked in Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, and Colorado. He rode in the helicopter and was the flight engineer and watched gauges when they were in flight, he did the refueling when they were on site, and wrenched on it. It was long days but he got paid well.
Over the years I have had the opportunity to go for a ride while they were flying logs. The cycle between refueling was 35 minutes. Before I got aboard, I was supplied with a big BARF bag , and was told you were going to be there for the cycle , and they would not land no matter how sick you got. I stayed on the ground!
Can't agree more. One company used a machine that was intended more for carrying passengers as opposed to the rigors of flying logs. The mechanical team included TWO riveters!
Campinspector...Thanks for the great pictures and for answering my "saddles" question. These pictures aren't nearly as impressive as yours but they're not bad for highway loads. The fir load was a brand new loader's first load with a 966. He usually ran a shovel but it was broke down that day. The driver was green, too, so he took the load as is. I was on my way back from town with parts and didn't see the truck until it was way down the haul road...otherwise I would have evened that mess out for him a little. He double wrapped everything and got to the mill alright. When he came back for his next trip I put a nice load of cedar on him to make up for the first load.
Your bottom picture (nice load ) in our neck of the woods for a highway load would likely get the driver pulled over for being over-height ! This is a load for railway transfer .Evenly balanced ,and a low center of gravity.Not one of mine retired ! For true off highway hauls buts are loaded ahead to give the truck better traction , and for loading from behind affords the operator a better sight line of the load as the load gets higher. About 1992 company parade and picnic, this one was fun to put on and it later made two railway car loads .
Man, Camp… I gotta get me a bigger trailer to pull behind the ATV. How well do you suppose it would pull one of those trailers you're showin…
Hey Camp, I remembered a story you might appreciate. A friend operated a box truss 230' crane on a variety of job sites, for many years. He told me it was common to eat his lunch in the cab. One day he dozed off while looking up the 230' boom, at a clear blue sky. When he woke up about a half hour later, clouds had formed and were moving through that blue sky… creating the illusion that the boom was moving… AND THAT COULDN'T BE GOOD… he said you never saw arms and legs moving quite like that … said he was surprised he didn't dump the crane from all of the thrashin…
Something similar with our sailboat. At anchor in a reasonably sheltered bay one very windy night(45 Knots plus), Woodwidow and self were enjoying a relaxed moment in front of the fireplace. Something seemed odd when I looked out the window and discovered we were dragging anchor at alarming rate, quickly passing astern of another anchored vessel. In a mad scramble, I grabbed the shift lever and engine key to arrive in the cockpit to discover we weren't dragging but the other boat had weighed anchor and was moving father up in the bay. Saving grace was darkness; I was dressed in my birthday suit!!!
