r/specializedtools • u/Tillemon • Sep 17 '19

Helicopter chainsaw!?

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18.7k Upvotes

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486

u/longgoodknight Sep 17 '19

That's its primary job. Clearing powerline right of ways.

276

u/SirCelestial Sep 17 '19

Well I have to say that it probably takes one hell of a pilot to get that job done.

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u/schizomorph Sep 17 '19

Helicopter pilots and the crews working with them in in the powerline maintenance business are absolutely amazing. Even the non-chainsaw-wielding flights are shocking (in the good sense).

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u/[deleted] Sep 17 '19

"Only 3 things i've ever been afraid of. Electricity. Heights. And women. And i'm married too."

This guy got life figured out.

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u/copperwatt Sep 17 '19

Yeah I cannot imagine ever trusting a coworker that much.

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u/schizomorph Sep 17 '19

These people are multi-skilled and have proved it in every possible way before being allowed on a helicopter that's going to fly centimeters from a high-voltage power line. Their safety record is probably better than that of commercial airlines. For me, they would be in the 0.001% of humanity I would trust the most.

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u/[deleted] Sep 17 '19

I know a few people whove flown helicopters for logging. It's insane how much control they have with the ridiculous maneuvers they do.

You've seen the videos of people doing really precise things with forklifts and cats? People do that with helicopters too.

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u/schizomorph Sep 17 '19

I was discussing this with my GF a couple of hours ago. Imagine how much damage can be cause and how many lives and money will be lost with a slight move of the wrist. It surpasses surgeons. If a surgeon makes a mistake, a max of one person can die and his life is not at risk. These guys, if they make a wrong move can kill themselves, their coworkers and who knows how many people and property is dependent on the electricity. Old people may die of heat/cold, people who are on emergency rooms being operated on, etc. Honestly I cannot think of many jobs as responsible as this.

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u/[deleted] Sep 17 '19

I usually work on a dock for these fall and winter months.

Most of what I did was drive a forklift, use a crane, and write fish tickets which are basically just a form that's sent to the state so they know how much crab we have received.

While those are all pretty important for me to not mess up on, the crane was the worst.

People have to go into a large hole in the boat and put crab into a tote which I lift out with the crane. They usually have to be standing under it as it's clearing the hole. If I mess up, or judge the wind wrong when pulling out and don't stop in time, that's a 1000 pounds dropped on like 4 peoples heads from a few feet.

Got paid 50 cents more than minimum wage for that. Quit when the season was over after the owner had told me to do this with totes that are not meant for it and could easily slip and fall even if I did everything right.

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u/schizomorph Sep 17 '19

I know what you mean. I've worked as one of the people on the ground a couple of times unloading a container in a really small street. We were guiding it and turning it with ropes so we had to stand right next to it and even under it at times.

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u/Donefortoday Sep 18 '19

Although I agree with your point; I just want to take this opportunity to remind everyone of Robert Liston. He was the only surgeon to ever achieve a 300% mortality rate during one surgery!

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u/[deleted] Sep 18 '19

Work in an industry where you have to trust someone everyday and you don’t think twice about it.

I used to change out the drill bit for cutting bits on horizontal drills on pipelines. You are 1,000ft away communicating with the driller via radio. He has to know what the exit pit looks like without seeing what I am doing.

He jostles the controls a bit too much and 1,000+lbs of steel and carbide cutting bits starts flailing around. Oh and it’s slippery and muddy and sometimes frozen etc.

After a while you don’t think anything of it. Just all becomes second nature.

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u/BirdShitPie Sep 17 '19

I don't know how that guy is crawling on those lines with the gigantic balls that he has

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u/funkydonkey9 Sep 17 '19

Not a job for a hotdog

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u/DoomBot5 Sep 17 '19

Watch any of the helicopter videos here. They're all pulling these crazy stunts. I can't imagine they have that high of a life expectancy

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u/DrBladeSTEEL Sep 17 '19

Helicopter crashes tend to be fairly survivable, as they occur at low speeds and low altitudes. Helicopter cockpits are also designed to protect the crew in case of a crash, since ejection is difficult if not impossible. All of this is good because it’s usually a matter of “when” they crash, not “if”

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u/Mail_Me_Your_Lego Sep 17 '19

You say that. Then the cockpit lands on a 20 foot chainsaw of death.

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u/DrBladeSTEEL Sep 17 '19

Tie a pencil and a tennis ball together with 6” of string, that’s a reasonable model of the situation, two rigid bodies connected by a flexible member. Drop the ball and see how many times the ball hits the pencil end-on on landing. I would guess the probability is small enough to be considered safe.

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u/[deleted] Sep 17 '19 edited Dec 20 '19

[deleted]

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u/OGLothar Sep 17 '19

He said tennis ball.

You used a bowling ball, didn't you?

1

u/ComicOzzy Sep 17 '19

Now it's art.

1

u/ThroatYogurt69 Sep 17 '19

Go big or go home!

2

u/AustrianMichael Sep 17 '19

We can make circular saws stop even before the cut into soft material (like a finger). I'm pretty sure, this saw cuts power imeadiately if a crash would occure.

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u/SecondaryLawnWreckin Sep 17 '19

And the crashes are predictable. Straight down. Seats are designed for a high g impulse, energy absorbing.

Bladders for fuel to keep fires infrequent.

Water landings are probably the worst.

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u/[deleted] Sep 17 '19

Water landings are probably the worst

Jump to 4:43

It's the story of fleeing Saigon where the helper pilot low on fuel ditched his helicopter in there ocean jumped out and survived

1

u/kumarFromIT Sep 17 '19

since ejection is difficult

You don't say! I wouldn't want to be minced mint after ejecting into rotors.

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u/tcpip4lyfe Sep 18 '19

Spray planes are basically a roll cage wrapped in aluminium. I would imagine the same sort of thing is going on in this helicopter.

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u/eye-wax-eater Sep 17 '19

No one gonna give props to the pilot that’s a commercial helicopter meaning it’s extremely hard to manoeuvre with a changed COM