September 7, 1978 Shelton Mason County Journal | ![]() |
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September 7, 1978 |
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iHelicopter logging:
I
THE SKYHOOK, otherwise known as a Sikorski S-64, brings logs in to a
landing high above the upper Wynooche reservoir from a hillside
inaccessible by truck or cat.
KEEPING AN EYE on things are (left to right) Charlie Spurgeon, woods
superintendent for Erickson Air-Crane; Len Hunter, U.S. Forest Service
forest technician; and Ramey Stevens, Simpson Timber Company project
supervisor.
Page ]0 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, September 7, ]978
the skyhook becomes a reality
By CAROLYN MADDUX
Ever since loggers have been
setting chokers, a man with a log
in a sticky situation has wished
for a "skyhook."
The skyhook has been
referred to in the breaking in of
every green recruit to the woods
for years.
When the dust and debris of
a loading landing is suddenly
swept up in the whirlwind of
rotor blades and 20,000 pounds
of logs come dangling in with a
giant Sikorski S-64 at the other
end of the steel cable, the
skyhook can no longer be the
colossal joke of the woods.
Camp Grisdale, in the
Olympic foothills, lies within
view of some of the last
accessible old growth timber in
the Olympic National Forest
Sustained Yield Unit which the
Simpson Timber Company
harvests under the direction of
the U.S. Forest Service.
There remains enough old
growth for perhaps ten more
years of harvesting, theorizes Len
Hunter, forestry technician for
the Shelton Ranger District.
Some of that timber is
inaccessible by truck and eat,
which have penetrated all but
the most impassible of hillsides.
In the old days the loggers
would simply shake their heads
and leave such timber.
Today, helicopter logging is
part of the timber scene. In the
case of some five units in the
Camp Grisdale area, comprising
some 16 million board feet of
timber designated for helicopter
harvest by the forest service and
sold to Simpson last year, the
"skyhook" is a pair of
helicopters operated by Erickson
Air-Crane.
The Oregon helicopter
logging finn, one of three in the
country, operates as a
subcontractor for Simpson for
the logging of these units.
Erickson's crew do the falling
and bucking as well as removing
the timber from the woods. It's
a tricky business. Ordinarily trees
are fallen across a hillside for
easier pickup; old growth fir,
however, splinters with that
treatment and must be quartered
down the hillside.
It tends to slide down into
gullies and pile up, creating more
problems for the buckers and
choker.setters. In addition to the
timing and endurance necessary
for all woods operations, the
ability to accurately estimate
loads is essential.
If a load of logs weighs more
than the 20,000-pound lift
capacity of the ship, it is
"aborted" - dropped - and the
cost of each turnaround is such
that the crews try hard to avoid
such errors.
A second, small helicopter is
used for transporting chokers
and even crew members and for
generally tending the work. The
Hughes 500 is called the
workhorse of the operation.
It costs in the neighborhood
of $250 an hour to operate it;
the Sikorsky, on the other hand,
which laps up 8.7 gallons of
gasoline a minute, costs $3,750
an hour to run.
After each 40-minute cycle
in the air, during which the ship
may bring in up to 20 loads
depending upon distance from
the landing, the Sikorsky is given
a thorough safety check.
It's a long way from the
shouts of the grease-monkey and
invective of the bullwhacker or
the mournful hoot of the steam
donkey to the clatter of rotor
blades and the rush of wind as
the helicopter yards logs out to
the loading landing.
But it's one more way to
bring out the timber.
DOWN THEY COME. Graduate forester Christine
resource clerk Jan Zaniewski of the Forest Service watch a:
by copter as others are being loaded on the truck for the
woods.
FLAWLESS TIMING on the part of the loader driver keep
the move between every helicopter load.
A FUELING STOP for the Sikorsky S-64 comes after
work cycle and includes a complete systems check for
safety. The gas tank at right, airlifted in, holds 10,000