Just a quick edit of some video that I shot on August 12, 2013. The company is Aerial Solutions out of North Carolina. They pioneered this type of tree trimming. They are also responsible for giving me my first taste of flight. (Thanks Aerial Solutions!)
Back in the late 1980's they landed in a field that my parents own to refuel and maintenance the saw. In return, they gave us rides in the helicopter. I was probably about 9 at the time. I am still in awe of what these crazy bastards do to this day.

Note: My editing software kept demolishing the native audio so there is some weird stuff happening throughout the video with the actual recorded audio.

The Aerial Solutions guys are back in the area and ran into some fuel delivery problems. So they landed at Noble County to do some work on their bird. The choppa is the same one in the video but with a new paint scheme.

I really have a connection to these helicopters and this company. They are the guys that gave me my first taste of flying and I will never forget that. I sat in my dads lap while the pilot flew us around the farm. I am digging up the pictures from that day to add to the new thread that Zane started for vintage pictures.

Hot damn. Is that thing some sort of clutched PTO? Or does it have its own engine? Not sure how the first would even be possible, but controlling the engine on it sounds interesting.

Zzz wrote:Hot damn. Is that thing some sort of clutched PTO? Or does it have its own engine? Not sure how the first would even be possible, but controlling the engine on it sounds interesting.

There is an engine in the cage. It is a v-twin (Kohler) and I believe that it has an electronically controlled PTO system. I think that they start the engine on the ground and then the pilot can turn the blades on and off with the switch in the cockpit.

Belt driven








I'm guessing this light is on while the engine is running. It is in the top of the cage.

I have seen video of one of those in action.... Impressive piece of equipment...

Heli dun out of Medford has that getup. He told us a story about how one time the saw got stuck in the tree...... Pucker factor!

Great pictures Evan -

In the late '80's I landed behind a kid flying one of those tree choppers in North Carolina somewhere. He said that it was the only one at the time. He was from Texas. He said his boss bought the company from the "inventor's widow." ....enough said.

I said, "you must make a pile of money?" He said, "not near what people think I should. I'm just building time."