Ariel Logging- Balloons, Helicopters, or Otherwise.

[akroadrunner]

My experience with Heli logging was in the early 70's on the Quinault Indian Reservation. A company used a small chopper to fly shake blocks out of areas that had already been replanted. Walk in, sometimes quite a distance. Bring a huge Stihl with 36 or longer bar. Gas, oil, froe, mall, and lunch. I worked on these shows a few times when the logging got slow. Sometimes just worked on the weekend to earn extra cash. The guys who ran the chopper would fly around with one of them hanging below the chopper on a long cable with his home movie camera. They filmed us logging several times as we were logging in the same area they were cutting blocks. One day they actually flew the camera man inside our guyline circle and hovered there filming us loading an off highway truck with big cedar. When my uncle swung around for another log, the pilot set his camera man down on the load. When Norman brought the next log around, he lifted the camera man up, and after the log was on the truck, set him on the load again for more filming. My uncle called the pilot, 'Captain Whirly". We really did not like them coming inside the guy line circle like that. Sure would like to see the film they shot though. Was fun to see them fly around like that. The guy in the harness on the end of the cable was quite good at manuvering himself by sticking out an arm or leg.

 

[TorkelH]

According to Ken Drushka Flying Scotsman Enterprises, formed by Faye Steward (that worked for Bohemia Lumber in Oregon) and Dave Balinski started in 1990 Skyhook enterprises. Steward had been central in developing the system and the Washington Aero-Yarders. Balinski sold out in 1992 to Ted Leroy, Don Williams (Lineham Logging) and Frank Beban. They had to sides running, Seymour Inlet and Phillips Arm, last one was on a Ted Leroy contract with MMB.

A Swedish forestry professor visited Ted Leroy's balloon logging show in 1995, he was then told that hunters used to fire at the helium filled balloon (!). Every year the balloon was so full of holes that the leakage of helium had to be stopped. Hence the balloon was repaired with tape from the inside by persons wearing oxygen masks.

 

[trakloader]

According to Ken Drushka Flying Scotsman Enterprises, formed by Faye Steward (that worked for Bohemia Lumber in Oregon) and Dave Balinski started in 1990 Skyhook enterprises. Steward had been central in developing the system and the Washington Aero-Yarders. Balinski sold out in 1992 to Ted Leroy, Don Williams (Lineham Logging) and Frank Beban. They had to sides running, Seymour Inlet and Phillips Arm, last one was on a Ted Leroy contract with MMB.

A Swedish forestry professor visited Ted Leroy's balloon logging show in 1995, he was then told that hunters used to fire at the helium filled balloon (!). Every year the balloon was so full of holes that the leakage of helium had to be stopped. Hence the balloon was repaired with tape from the inside by persons wearing oxygen masks.

Finally found the article on balloon logging with the Washington Aero Yarders, I'll try to scan it soon.

 

[akroadrunner]

I think it was in the 90's when a bow hunter took out a Weyerhauser chopper. He thought they were harassing him while he was stalking a deer, and flung an arrow towards the chopper. Hit the tail rotor and put it down. Think I'm lying? Look it up in the Longview Daily News. Sometimes low tech is best. Lucky shot? Or just good? At least they stay away from bow hunters now.

 

[Choker man]

Many years ago they used a ballon logging the North Vancouver mountainside. Not sure if it was in the Lynn creek watershed area or not, does anyone remember this?


I'm assuming you intended this post to be in this thread, rather than the one about shagged off clothes, so I moved it here.

Digger242j

 

[gologit]

Just a few pictures of when I was heli logging! Any body remember these choppers?View attachment 78888View attachment 78889View attachment 78890

Siller Brothers, from Yuba City. It was called Tri-Eagle when they first started up in the 70s but eventually the name was changed to Siller Brothers Aviation. The green S-64 was bought used from Evergreen. The red one was bought new from Sikorsky. They logged heavily during the bug-kill salvage days back in the late 70s and early 80s. It was a highly migratory outfit...you lived out of your suitcase. We used to shoot for 1 million feet a week on the landing and it didn't take us long to work ourselves out of a job.

Siller still runs S-64s along with some S-61s. They're not logging as much as they used to. They do a lot of fire work and construction lifting now.

 

[cutting edge]

Many years ago they used a ballon logging the North Vancouver mountainside. Not sure if it was in the Lynn creek watershed area or not, does anyone remember this?


I'm assuming you intended this post to be in this thread, rather than the one about shagged off clothes, so I moved it here.

Digger242j

Yes,it was actually on the west side of the seymour watershed,north of the dam.

You can still see the block from the top of the Seymour ski hill.

 

[snowpeke]

Siller Brothers, from Yuba City. It was called Tri-Eagle when they first started up in the 70s but eventually the name was changed to Siller Brothers Aviation. The green S-64 was bought used from Evergreen. The red one was bought new from Sikorsky. They logged heavily during the bug-kill salvage days back in the late 70s and early 80s. It was a highly migratory outfit...you lived out of your suitcase. We used to shoot for 1 million feet a week on the landing and it didn't take us long to work ourselves out of a job.

Siller still runs S-64s along with some S-61s. They're not logging as much as they used to. They do a lot of fire work and construction lifting now.

I was one of those that was living out of a suitcase back in those days. The pictures were taken near Doyle California. I loaded logs for all of sillers copters. It was great times following the traveling helicopter show. Gologit, sounds like you were there too.

 

[snowpeke]

I was one of those that was living out of a suitcase. Rented out my house and traveled with the helicopter show. One more picture taken from the Doyle job. The next landing we logged 7 million feet in it. It was a huge landing but when we were done we were really cramped for space. Monster slash pile!

 

[gologit]

I was one of those that was living out of a suitcase back in those days. The pictures were taken near Doyle California. I loaded logs for all of sillers copters. It was great times following the traveling helicopter show. Gologit, sounds like you were there too.

Yeah, those were some days. I'd gotten hurt working in the woods so I took a job driving the fuel tanker for the helicopters. I was in and out of Doyle quite a bit. If I remember right the area we logged was supposed to become some kind of fancy ski resort. Wonder if that ever happened?

After a couple of years on the tanker I went to turning wrenches on the red '64. Charlie Knight was the crew chief. He'd walked down the assembly line with that ship when Sikorsky built it and knew every nut, bolt, and rivet in it. I did that for another couple of years and we sure saw the country. We logged as far south as Johnsondale, all over the Sierras, and around Covelo on the west side. We sure got to know a lot of coffee shop waitresses. I finally hung it up near Coquille, Oregon. It was Thanksgiving and everybody took off for the holiday. Except the mechanics. We stayed up there and did a rotorhead change. In the rain. Figured it was time to head back to California.

 

[missislandgirl]

I remember Coval Air - I'm not sure if they survived their disaster of their Beech 18 crashing and burning on take-off out of Port Hardy. Vancouver Island Air might have swallowed them up. I'm sitting here thinking back and there sure have been alot of fatals in float planes over the last 25 years - especially the last few. I'd hate to have to buy insurance as an operator.

I'm not sure if you have all the facts here, jackd. You may want to think before posting aloof comments about "disasters" and "crashing and burning"; people's familys are involved, and you never know who's reading. Coval Air did survive for 10+ years after this disaster, and it surely wasn't swallowed up by Vancouver Island Air

Where you working in the 80's?

 

[jackd]

Sorry if you took offense to my posting but my comments were not intended to be 'aloof' and disrespectful to people's families. That's not my nature. In answer to your question at the end (if I understand it correctly), I worked for a air carrier on the Island back then.

 

[owleater]

looks like siller brothers

 

[Redwood Climber]

Choker Straighteners

Here we have a shop made cable kink removal device. You would lay the kinky knob end in the device and use your knee to activate the press. The yarder operator thought the addition of a hand valve control was needed to hold extended pressure on the cable to allow smacking it with two hammers on opposite sides at the same time. The hammer trick is to allow the bound up wires to slip back into pre-kink position. From my experience this hammer method is only partially effective, a cork screw is a cork screw. The next pic. is of the landing area and the two yarders

We used choker straighteners in northern Cal. Each tower had one on it's landing. We had good luck with them, they made a big difference. Perfectly straight? No, but it took out the big kinks and the bleepholes........ ours were built at the shop with a foot air valve mounted so you could use your lower thigh to actuate it. We liked 'em. We used them on 7/8 - 1 3/8 chokers. You had to really rasstle the big ones. We also used a torch or a set of wire cutters to eliminate the jaggers.

 

[Redwood Climber]

Enjoyed pics of heli and balloon logging.........I'll bet the balloon logging was sure quiet in the brush. No motorized carriage, probably pretty smooth rigging I would imagine. Would like to have seen it.

 

[fixer upper]

Heli Logging, North Van Island, May, with the Kamov

 

[johnson]

What happened to R&R Conner Aviation,are they still in business?

 

[Easy Money]

Well, I'll be. We always had a fictitious device called a "choker stretcher" we would send greenhorns to fetch but I never realized there actuall existed a real device. Interesting!
Perhaps you've heard The Chokerman's Prayer?

Oh Lord up above
Come down if you can
Don't send down your Son
It's a job for a man
With marlin spike teeth
And breath of fire
Please take out the kinks
From this choker wire