Helicopter Logging
(1976) This summer only one heli-logger outfit, Columbia Helicopters is working on Mt. Hood. Logging a unit aptly named Dragonfly two big ships swoop about all day, lifting logs out of clear cut units and dropping them on log landings where are loaded and trucked out.
"These big ships use a lot of fuel, but we can log a lot more lumber than other conventional methods," said project manager Lou Morgan. "One ship can do the work of five skidders. We can work on flat land, in steep ravines, on any kind of ground. The only thing that can shut us down is fog or gusty winds."
The pilot swings into the unit and drops low so the skyhook is four or five feet off the ground. The hook tender has to grab the 50 pound hook out of the air and slip the chokers into it. Then he must jump clear and signal the pilot with a two-way radio to lift up. At the log landing the ship lowers the logs to the ground and chasers rush out to unhook and coil the chokers, trim off branches and load the logs onto trucks before the ship comes back for another turn. Often it is only two or three minutes between turns.