Each year, Apex Helicopters supports our Christmas tree farm customers with Part 133 external load work. This process includes our field crews comprised of fuel truck drivers, mechanics and pilots to travel throughout the tree farms of Oregon in the Willamette valley and Southwest Washington slinging bundles of Christmas trees out of the tree growers fields.
This process starts many years prior (6-10 years) when the grower plants the tree seedling. After years of care, cultivation and fertilizing, the trees are trimmed up and graded to prepare them for orders. After orders have been taken from the growers customers, the trees are marked for harvest, cut, bundled and prepared for flight!
Now it is our turn to fly the trees out of the field to waiting bin trucks or into piles for the bailers to prepare them for shipping. This process includes a highly experienced vertical reference production pilot to fly a remote hook dangling from the bottom of the helicopter on a 25 foot line out to the awaiting hooker (Yes, hooker) who hooks the bundle of Christmas trees to the remote hook. The helicopter lifts the bundle of trees (usually between 700 to 800 lbs) into the air and flies it out of the field to the landing.
Our small part in this grand annual process allows the tree grower to harvest many more trees in a much smaller window of time thus bringing a fresher, better quality Christmas tree to your home!
Go visit our external load services page for more information on our companies capabilities when conducting this type of helicopter operation.