Helicopter tree removal

[MatthewMMeckley]

Hey guys, it’s been a minute, it’s been a weird years for me in life and work. Cutting on the coast essentially shut down for me due to the steep drop in market value of redwood. Long weird fire season which I’m not a fan of in the first place. With that being said and all of that malarkey being over with I was asked to be apart of a helicopter assisted tree removal project. As per California most ways to get work done is a PIA. The job site was to be zero impact on a steep grade of a creek zone. The zone is actively washing away and these big trees needed to be taken out before they cause failure to a bunch of homes. That being said we had a killer team for everything. The first week was about measuring rigging and painting the wood a limbs to weight for the helicopter. The second week was a fast pace of controlled chaos with the bird 50 Fett above us. Make aerial lift was 2,800 but target weight for pieces was about 2,000. The common weight we actually hit was about 1,500 for a lot of the pieces.
Here’s some photos of what went on.

 

[MatthewMMeckley]

https://youtu.be/Tu_t5YBLYog?si=T1uaNreQl5qh8o60
Here’s a video of some of the action.

 

[MatthewMMeckley]

 

[CurSedVoyce]

I was watching ya'lls facebook posts on that job.. great work. Dont know I'll be able to ever cross that off my bucket list. Nice going you two

 

[MatthewMMeckley]

Thank you, and if you have seen the TCIA article I was apart but did not write. I’m not a writer let alone someone who wants to. I contributed but it didn’t touch my advanced PowerPoint and talk I did this year. Don’t hate me 😂

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Nothing but respect for both of you.

 

[Patrick A]

The TCIA talk was full of good information. Thanks for both contributions.

 

[MatthewMMeckley]

The TCIA talk was full of good information. Thanks for both contributions.

Thank you thank you, I feel like the arbor fest talk I did was way better because I only talked about advanced stuff.

 

[cory]

Thanks for the pix and info, hella project!

Interesting how it's all planned out ahead of time, of course there's no other choice but its cool to see the cut locations pre painted and pieces pre rigged.

Why did the price of redwood go down?

 

[CurSedVoyce]

My only question on the picks was, could shelf cuts helped more to keep the piece from moving toward the climber?

 

[Kaveman]

Nice job, studmuffin. Rock on with your bad self.

RE the TCIA article: I have harsh words for it in the post @cory made about it. None of that ire is directed at you, as I know you're too busy being you to faff about with that. TCIA can kiss my ass. You are an inspiration, keep on keeping on, you badass.

 

[MatthewMMeckley]

Nice job, studmuffin. Rock on with your bad self.

RE the TCIA article: I have harsh words for it in the post @cory made about it. None of that ire is directed at you, as I know you're too busy being you to faff about with that. TCIA can kiss my ass. You are an inspiration, keep on keeping on, you badass.

Thank you for that, I knew it wasn’t I just wanted to clear the air. I’m thankful for them allowing me to work and put my little two cents in an industry I owe my life too but I wish I had more time or the verbage to write or even form a sentence. Much love guys! I’ve talked to Terri a bit but does Mr. B come on much anymore?

 

[flushcut]

My only question on the picks was, could shelf cuts helped more to keep the piece from moving toward the climber?

Rigged in a bridle or Swede would help pick it straight up. But down wash might be an issue I’m not sure.

 

[MatthewMMeckley]

Rigged in a bridle or Swede would help pick it straight up. But down wash might be an issue I’m not sure.

The downwash was a huge factor when it came to pieces coming off a lil rowdy. Also with having to be on point with weights pieces weren’t able to be balanced like a normal crane pick. Most times you would add butt weight or tie out further on the tips. Eucs let alone are a hard tree to find a balance because they are amazingly tip heavy. It was cool to see a piece come off perfectly balanced and then the rotor wash hit it and it just flipped.

 

[cory]

why did redwood prices go down?

 

[cory]

how much weight was the chopper good for?

 

[Burnham]

why did redwood prices go down?

Word on the street is that @MatthewMMeckley cut so much volume so fast he single-handedly flooded the market and drove prices into the ground.

Dunno if that's true, but...

 

[flushcut]

I think I heard the same thing.

 

[stikine]

Word on the street is that @MatthewMMeckley cut so much volume so fast he single-handedly flooded the market and drove prices into the ground.

Dunno if that's true, but...

Nah, he just mis-bucked a bunch of logs and they weren't marketable. 😉

 

[WoodCutr]

I just gotta ask, how on earth do you get a helicopter company to do a tree job?

last year I had a bid come up, only safe way for us to do the job at the time was helicopter, called Fair Lifts and was told $40,000 per flight hour for a KMAX, sure enough the tree is still there a year later, not that I wanted to do the job, but I wasn't going to turn down the oportunity, looking back I'm glad I didn't get it


that being said, I've been watching some of this on Facebook, damn good work guys!


EDIT: FairLifts didn't like the idea of picking off a standing tree, they said it'd be no issue if they were picking logs off the ground, but to do a standing tree was going to be a lot of extra $$

 

[MatthewMMeckley]

Nah, he just mis-bucked a bunch of logs and they weren't marketable. 😉

Lol

 

[MatthewMMeckley]

Word on the street is that @MatthewMMeckley cut so much volume so fast he single-handedly flooded the market and drove prices into the ground.

Dunno if that's true, but...

Haha I actually was just train wrecking everything with a good power buck stump. Quantity not quality hahaha. I did have a log or two recently that didn’t tape out right for some reason. That was quite embarrassing lol. Instead of a 41 it was a 41.6…

 

[Bermy]

I know how heavy euc is.
My knees are jelly just sitting here watching the videos.
'nuf RESPECT!

I also have sling loader qualification for the fireground, for the helicopter pilot to deal with a sudden twisting dynamic load...WOW.

 

[MatthewMMeckley]

Here’s the full on little video of what went into the project for it to be accomplished.

 

[flushcut]

Badass!