High Sierra Topix

Wreckage removed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTU4_UmIkfE

Wow! Impresive. That Marine Corps King Stallion is a bag damn helicopter---look at the prop wash that it generates. I am glad I do not have to work under something like that,

Meanwhile, the guys did what appears to be a really good job picking up ALL the pieces...

Now if we could get one of those for trail work...grin.

It's nice the wreckage was removed, but it's a shame they had to cut down so many trees to make room for the Stallion helicopter. Just look at all those freshly cut trees in the video!

Yes, now the freshly cut trees are "litter".

The clearing does look rather excessive to needs.

They had some 4 legged helpers.

https://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/y ... wned-helo/

dave54 wrote: ↑Fri Dec 22, 2023 12:23 pm The clearing does look rather excessive to needs.

Tell that to the helicopter pilot.

Lumbergh21 wrote: ↑Sat Jan 06, 2024 4:44 pm

dave54 wrote: ↑Fri Dec 22, 2023 12:23 pm The clearing does look rather excessive to needs.

Tell that to the helicopter pilot.

The rule of thumb is 1.5 rotor diameter on the sides, 3x diameter approach and takeoff path. Hard to tell from the photo. He also did not land. The entire operation was external load. For a long line retrieval you need a canopy hole big enough for the load. We routinely did 150 foot long lines.

Wilderness LZ construction guidelines in a Wilderness can be waived in an emergency. I would have a hard time justifying the retrieval as an emergency.

When I was in the business, I had delegated authority to authorize LZ construction in the Wilderness. I like to think I was fairly judicious in granting approval.

I suspect the FS personnel on scene just went along with the military wishes in the name of interagency cooperation.

Will always say they want more space no matter how much they have.