What Is This Chopper Up To?

PineRidge · Apr 19, 2004

I took this shot this morning when I saw this chopper flying in 40 to 50 mph winds. What do you think that he is up to? How about the guy hanging out the left rear door? /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

markie61 · Apr 19, 2004

A few years ago, my in-laws had a chopper hovering in their area for about a 1/2 hour. A week later, in the mail they got a solicitation for an aerial photograph of their property along with a small proof picture. They bought several copies....
Mark

JazzDad · Apr 19, 2004

I suspect these are terrorists on their way home from the Army surplus store. See the one waving to his buddies on the ground?

OkeeDon · Apr 19, 2004

They wouldn't do it in 40-50 mph winds, but the most unusual use of a chopper I've seen was to put caps on top of utility poles. I heard a chopper, went out to look, as was amazed to see a guy in a harness swinging about 20' below the chopper. They flew up to a utility pole, hovered and corrected to stop the guy from swinging, and he reached out and put a cone, like a dunce cap, on the top of the pole. A few quick pops with something like a power stapler, and they moved on to the next one, about 160' away. There was a supply of the caps on a hook hanging from the installer. It was incredible to watch -- they didn't waste any time, and they hustled from one pole to the next. I'd say they spent no more than 30 seconds at each pole.

The second neatest use of a chopper I've seen goes back several years, before electronic imaging of checks took hold. A check processing company near Miami used a chopper to pick up checks from participating banks in order to get them to processing faster. Each bank had a hook on the roof. Around 3:30 PM, an employee went out on the roof and hung a bag of checks from the hook. On schedule, a chopper swooped down over the bank, and a helper used another hook to snag the bag and pull it into the chopper. The banks where I watched it taking place are about 100 miles from the processing center; I assume they repeated the action many, many times on their flight South. It reminded me of the old pictures of trains snagging mailbags from hooks without stopping at the station.

Bird · Apr 19, 2004

( It reminded me of the old pictures of trains snagging mailbags from hooks without stopping at the station. )

What do you mean by "pictures"? Of course I may have seen it more in person that most folks, since I used to ride with one of my grandfathers hauling the mail between the post office and the trains. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

PineRidge · Apr 19, 2004

OK I fess up I actually know what the chopper pilot was doing. We see him every couple of months flying the high tension wires that border our property. His sidekick works a camera and they take pictures of all the insulators and other points on the high voltage transmission towers and lines. I am sure that even though the camera mans legs were hanging out of the bird that he was more than likely safely tethered. It did catch me off guard that he would fly just above the tree tops on a day when the wind was gusting between 40 and 50 mph however. I am also confident that any pilot who can hover a bird in those conditions really knows how to fly.

OkeeDon · Apr 19, 2004

( It reminded me of the old pictures of trains snagging mailbags from hooks without stopping at the station.)

( What do you mean by "pictures"? Of course I may have seen it more in person that most folks, since I used to ride with one of my grandfathers hauling the mail between the post office and the trains. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif )

Bird, I was raised in the city. I never knew there were stations where the train didn't stop...

gotrocks · Apr 20, 2004

My "Game Warden" said there is a fellow officer that can spot a single marijuana plant from the chopper. They staked it out and caught the "farmer".

Golfgar4 · Apr 20, 2004

( It did catch me off guard that he would fly just above the tree tops on a day when the wind was gusting between 40 and 50 mph however. )

Why would that surprise you, Mike? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

After all, it's that much closer to the ground when he crashes! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

rdam · May 2, 2004

( The second neatest use of a chopper I've seen goes back several years, before electronic imaging of checks took hold. A check processing company near Miami used a chopper to pick up checks from participating banks in order to get them to processing faster. Each bank had a hook on the roof. Around 3:30 PM, an employee went out on the roof and hung a bag of checks from the hook. On schedule, a chopper swooped down over the bank, and a helper used another hook to snag the bag and pull it into the chopper. The banks where I watched it taking place are about 100 miles from the processing center; I assume they repeated the action many, many times on their flight South. It reminded me of the old pictures of trains snagging mailbags from hooks without stopping at the station.
)

You know, I saw that years ago when I lived in Boca Raton. Nobody ever believed me when I told them " Hey, I saw some helicopter fly up to the bank and take this bag off a hook"

They're like.....Yeah...Right.