Helicopter Cherry Drying - A Narrated Flight
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 ส.ค. 2024
- It's cherry season again and I'm getting a lot of questions about the cherry drying services I provide with my helicopter. Although I have another cherry drying video on this channel, I thought I'd include this one, which I moved over from my personal TH-cam account, because it's more complete. It includes an entire orchard flight, from my arrival to departure and I explain exactly what I'm doing as I fly. It's a long video, but I think it's worth a watch if you're interested in this unusual type of flying.
(A side note here: I was really tickled when part of my narration from this flight was used in an NPR story about cherry farming a year or two ago.)
I hope to release more videos of cherry drying flights throughout this summer. Stay tuned!
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You are a great pilot. You handle that bird smooth
I absolutely love your work. I am not in any way, shape or form diminishing the hard work, time and money that you have must have invested to get to where you are now but boy...what a privileged life you lead. I watch your videos in absolute awe and unreserved admiration. My goodness, I can only imagine how it must feel to be you.
Can you please post more videos of home departures and landings. For a wannabe armchair pilot these are the best. Since I was a kid I have fantasied about flying a helicopter from home and picking up my mates etc. In all fairness it was never going to happen in the UK as our houses are very tightly packed in but hey.dare to dream right?
I am now of an age when I realise that this will probably never happen but I take great delight in seeing others who have managed to achieve what I couldn’t.
Please keep up the good work. You’re a star
Bob
nobbynumbnut Sounds to me like exactly my situation: I have always been close to aviation (but my glasses kept me from making a job out of it back in my joung days). I was a purser for Lufthansa though, had been with the Gerrman Airforce in Base-Ops, became a dentist and oral surgeon and about 10 years ago went for it: they offer 30 minutes hands on flights with R44s for a reasonable price. You fly with a capable instructor and he will hand over controls one after the other, always ready to take over should you fumble, but when we were at crusing altitude he although let go completely and let me have it totally on my own! Did that twice and it was the best spend money in my life! I‘m 71 years old now and want to do it again in Mallorca, where I live now. Should be breathtaking to fly with a R44 over the beautyful island! With what you describe, do it by all means! Google it, here the offer is around 600,00 € for 45 minutes. Save up, it‘s well worth it! At my age getting the license would be a gamble but for the money I intend to do that some more times!
It's very cool to see the view and learn about this type of flying. I really enjoyed this video. Thank you 😎🚁
5-10 feet above the trees at 5-10 mph - completely amazing aircraft control
It’s what all helicopter pilots should be able to do, especially with such a small, nimble aircraft.
Very cool. Thank you!
I used to draw helicopters when I was a kid. My dad was Navy and I got to see lots of helicopters. In the army I flew on lots of helicopters. Every chance I got! In Germany it was really cool. The pilots wood practice flying with full loads of people. This all happened around the Czechoslovakian border. They would fly around and then drop us off in a field. And then come around and pick us up. We enjoyed the break for those of us that smoked.
it may be tedious to you, but sure fun to watch, really enjoyed it Maria, I showed this to my wife and she said, "that's a brave lady"...but she liked it!..
That's fascinating. I had never heard of cherry drying or helicopter cherry drying. Thanks for sharing this.
Love your videos. Ever thought of setting up a ground camera at the orchard, so we can see the outside POV? Inside view is amazing, but would be even better to see an outside view that shows your amazing flying skills and how close you're getting, combined/alongside your internal view and narration.
At first the pilot in me was going WATCH THOSE WIRES .. then I got that you know what you're doing, have done it for years, and when I relaxed it got mesmerizing. Totally zen. Now I know what to watch whenever I'm stressed :)
Definately Glamorous. My view is of a road on an industrial park with lorries outside the window; blugh, and you wear comfortable clothes and not starchy crispy office gear....but...I do have coffee and cookies on tap :-) Keep sharing these great videos. Your work is my escape. Thanks.
The down wash washed down the cherries. Amazing skills my dear!!!
Thanks for taking the time to reply to us, much appreciated .
Hello. I am viewing this video on Hundred-Foot screen. It's just like you're sitting there with you. 👍
I loved this narration. Thank you. I would love to buy you a coffee (and breakfast) and listen to your stories.
Who knew cherries needed drying on the trees?! LOL There's always so much to know about everything. Great piloting skills and video!
Someone drying cherry trees with a helicopter. My world of possibility was just expanded.
I had no idea this was done. Super interesting with great tid bits of info!
excellent video. thanks for sharing. I didn't know drying cherries was a thing. Nice job flying BTW
Thanks for sharing something so unique! Never knew this was a thing! Very j teresting to watch you. Be safe, and thanks again!
Most of us dig watching someone do something well. This was pretty cool. I liked the precision...and that the pilot cared enough to do it right.
The wires scared me...some.
This was a very enjoyable video. Very soothing to watch. Beautiful scenery!
.
I am amazed at how smooth you fly. I took a intro flight over Boston because I watched your videos. Absolutely love it. I chose an interesting day to fly though. I had unlimited visibility, but it was below freezing and flew with 22 mph winds plus the occasion gust. Managed to not pendulum the R44 on my first flight and I got .7 hrs on my pilots log book. Thank you for posting!
It's 4:30am. I'm at work, but instead of working I've been watching you fly and dry cherry trees for the last 2 hours. Thanks for the all the videos.
The drying as I seen before on previous flights is new to me, never seen or know about it where I live, thanks for showing.
Your touch at the stick is. Smooth As Tennessee Whiskey.
Man those wires are worrisome. I grew up with a friend whose father crop dusted back in the '60's in rural kansas and he eventually died in a crash while crop dusting. I admire you coolness and skill in manuevering so close to the ground and near those wires.
They worry me, too, especially when they stretch diagonally across an orchard. Distance is difficult to judge, so I give them lots of space.
In the old days, farmers had to dry their cherry trees with hot air balloons and fans
Yeah, pull the other one.
You should play Ride of the Valkyries, that would freak everyone out.
It may be boring to you, but it’s fun to watch for me. Im sitting in my lounger eating some very plumb cherries. Thanks
The kinda jobs out there you just never know .....getting payed to dry cherries from a helicopter.
You just came up on Reddit on /r/TIL on an thread about cherry drying. Someone mentioned you yourself had an accident about a year or so ago. That must have been a scary incident. Glad you're OK and still in the game!
Thanks. Me, too.
It may be boring for you but watching vicariously in the back seat I enjoyed it immensely. I just learned that travel isn't the only thing a helicopter can do and drying cherries is a good thing. Do you ever crop dust?
No crop dusting for me, but I used to do frost control over almond ranches in California. Also some corn pollination.
Wow this is really interesting....didn't know they did this...your awesome!!!!
Hi Maria,
Such a wonderful treat watching your flying. Thank you for sharing so much of your professional life. Both the flying and the interesting commentaries have me hooked. Actually, while I was in FSX flight simulator I got onto helicopters.....and got off as quickly when I realised my relatively crude control system was never going to cut it. About that time, 3 or 4 years ago, I stumbled one of your videos.
And just scanned it!
Recently, I decided to rebuild my control system and am in the middle right now of just that process.
But now, I couldn't for the life of me, find you!!! I kept insisting to You Tube that you were 'lady pilot spraying strawberries'!!!!
But, long story short, I finally got you...again!!
Gosh, you have been such an inspiration in my, once again, getting to grips with helos. After a while watching 4 of your videos, the cherry trees took a backseat. I focussed on watching your so casual continuous instinctive cyclic inputs inputs, how your elbow rests comfortably on thigh. How effortless you made everything seem, including the at least 6 autorotation exercises you did with CFI Trevor Hale. For me, all this highlighted the hallmarks of a true teacher and professional.
And that made me wonder!!
How great it would be if, (and I don't know why you should, when you have the real thing) go back to FSX or XPlane, if ever you used them earlier, just share your sim experience in flying choppers like the Bell 206, or the Lama, or the unique Djinn.
My experience is that the XPlane choppers are either very difficult to fly or impossible, due to the design. There are hardly any demos by a professional pilot.
Or is it it all just me??
The above was just a crazy thought.
Anyway, I just wanted to say a sincere thanks and how much I have enjoyed being allowed and partaking of your world.
Regards....and Merry Christmas!!!!!
Erich.
Thanks very much for all your kind words. Glad you found me again!
I don't do flight simulators. I have a few hours in an R22 instrument trainer flight simulator at least 10 years ago, and although I could fly it, I always crashed on landing. It just didn't look real enough for me to judge how far I was from the ground. 🤷🏻♀️
Do yourself a favor and treat yourself to a demo flight at a local flight school. Doesn't matter if it's an airplane or a helicopter; if you've never flown before, you'll really enjoy it.
@@FlyingMAir
Thanks so much for your kind reply!
Compliments of the Season and a Bountiful Cherry Harvest 2020!!
I did follow upto see if Santa would do a repeat.....!
Actually, it was not relevant to my post but you certainly guessed I'm stuck on aviation, in general....and helos in particular.
I did join the local Flying Club after School (dare I say it, in 1956) to do some gliding. Then I got into the Air Force....no, not flying, but as a mechanic. I was well know on all the bases I served as the plane-cadger. No plane was spared, the crowning wangle being quite à bit of uptime on the the Hawker Hunter Trainer.
But this is just because I was remiss in my post.
Hence, my frustration doing so badly on sim choppers only. Everyone admits the Bell 206 in both the Microsoft sims were bad. But since then there have been a lot of pretty giant improvements on the rotary wing front. Dodosim and some X Plane models seem pretty acceptable.
Your videos...all of them, pointed to my pathetic control system for helicopters. Hençe here I am ràciñg to complete to specs you might approve of. Wish was a wày of getting the pics to you for info, since you were pretty instrumental in this project. Whatsapp, emàil or something...if interested.
I have one request for one of your future videos. When you are drying one of your easier orchards, could you make a video which has major focus on the controls, trim, some of your techniques and precautioñs, etc. Maybe even briefly touchiñg on màintenance, your daily inspections.
There could be quite a following of beçause interest in real and simflight are so popular these days.
Back to my FCS and saving $2000 it would cost to get, a no doubt slick, çommercial one!!
So fun watching your videos. Thank you 🙏🏽 You’ve got yourself a new subscriber 😊
you are a very smooth and coordinated pilot, you make it look easy
I’ll eat my cherries with more respect from now on.
Wow... flying over objects requires such concentration and attention... no doubt very exhausting.
After you get use to it, it's just like driving your car. Both take skills to do correctly.
I live in Lake Country, BC and this same kind of ‘cherry drying’ is in process right now across the valley from our house.
Back in the early 80's, I pollinated corn fields in a Hughes 269c, a very enjoyable little bird to fly.
Steady control. Slow is fast. Great video. Flying over the cherry trees may be a bit non exciting... but it keeps basic skills sharp. 😀
It’s tedious sometimes, but it definitely keeps hovering skills sharp.
thanks for this narrative. I wish I had more flight hours; I think that would be a fun job, but I'm probably not insurable.
You are quite good, very interesting to watch and hear your comments 👍👏
Your videos intrigued me as I'm a native washingtonian and never knew that this kind of thing existed, although I'm on the western side I've spent countless time on the east side vacationing and visiting family. Seems like a sweet gig to make a bit of cash putting your impeccable skills to use. Washington looks a lot different in the air than on the ground! Lol
I don't know that this lacks in glamour. As a lookie-lou tourist, I enjoy the contact flying, in close proximity to terrain rather than the much more static view from a few thousand feet up.
LOL! Watching TH-cam as the pilot on TH-cam ponders (at 5:59) "I always wonder if I'm gonna be on TH-cam."
I think it's safe to say you are. Also, I never knew cherry drying was a thing, but that's cool! 👍
This is incredibly cool!
Wow, that's tight flying!
Great flying and decent video, what a pleasure.
"It's very easy, so you just fly very very low and you turn to the left sometimes."
I lived in Florida for many years (in Indian River County) and pilots like yourself worked throughout the night to save citrus crops from a freeze on occasion. This saved many many people their jobs as pickers . These were poor people who could not afford to lose their seasonal work in the groves. I am guessing that flying a helicopter at night, at low altitudes, over trees and in monotonous patterns was not a glamour job, but it sure meant a great deal to many peoples livelihoods.
I used to do frost control over almond trees in California.
Interesting video and good control on the flying. Never knew one had to dry Cherries, all the way from Ohio, Thanks for the adventure. We have Corn sprayed for Fungus every year, group is out of Panama City Florida who follow the Season as the Corn matures.
Amazing - I never knew this was done.
Very cool. I think it would be educational to see some simultaneous picture in picture shots of you working the controls as you navigate the orchards. I'm sure a large number of people under-estimate the work load on helicopter pilots.
Wow! This is by far the craziest thing I saw.
Are these very expensive special cherries?
That orchard used to be owned my my Uncle. Art Reeves. That house at 7:23 was his. My Dad's orchard is the one against the mountain from there. Nice flying! At 14:29, that is my dad's place and those are apple trees. They have since been removed due to terrible apple market.
Very cool!
Is this by hood river ?
Wenatchee area of WA.
Wow, you have so much excess capacity (the unbroken narrative is quite a give away). Very impressive.
Great flying! Your focused, professional attitude is inspiring. Never heard of cherry drying until now. Fascinating. How many times in a season would you dry this particular orchard? What would the owner pay per drying? How many orchards would it take to keep your operation in business?
We dry after it rains so the amount of work we get varies depending on the weather.
Cool... I had no idea...
You're expert at NOE flying ;)
Thanks for sharing...
Me and my family loves your cherries!
Lightweight helmet for the noggin would be a nice touch. Nicely done video -thanks.
I'm terrified of helicopter flight (used to feel that way about commercial air flight but that got better over the years), but this is fascinating to watch. Embarrassingly I wondered if this was a simulation because, well, ignorance; not ever imagining this type of work existed. Also , I appreciate your honesty about this 'not being glamorous work' as, I expect the uninitiated (including me) might be tempted to regard this as AMAZING work.
She's a good driver.
Your camera angle is excellent.
This shows how skilled you are at flying 😀 excellent video love them when did you start flying x
1999.
the cherry cultivars typically grown are susceptible to mold/mildew and cracking from water sitting on the cherry. they use small helicopters like this to shake up the tree canopy and blow off as much water as possible. before you ask ... why dont they do this by shaking the tree mechanically or with ground based blowers mounted on some sort of tractor, look how fast she can cover a few hundred acres.
I love the camera position, I feel immersed.
What is the average flight time for an orchard? Nice flying! Cant wait to see more.
We can dry 30 to 50 acres an hour.
Never seen this before. Pretty nifty. Kinda like crop dusting.
I have a neighbor about 1/10 mile away who has a very high antenna behind his house (maybe ham operator?).. It's high enough there are many guy wires to support the mast before just a very tall thin antenna on the top.. When you were flying near the buildings where the man in the orange shirt was taking the pictures I thought about the possibility of that happening... When you get a new customer do you drive a vehicle there first to take your time looking over potential obstacles or maybe draw a map so you're more prepared the the first run...enjoy watching your videos....
I do occasionally visit a site on the ground, but we usual do a recon from the air to identify obstacles. Whenever there's a tower, there's the risk of wires running to/from in. With experience, you get a knack for knowing what to look for.
you seem to be a very good pilot..well done great commentary
What a nice job .. i love it
Your insurance company must love this line of work. Do you charge by the hour? Is the chopper a Raven I r II? Great flying.
They insure me so I don’t think they mind. We do charge by the hour. The helicopter is a Raven II, but any R44 can do a good job on this work. Thanks!
What a great job!
Your camera is so good that looks like your flying a simulator with a movie screen!! Awesome job piloting!!
@Muster Gwarfield he/she lost me as well. .ol
I think you have filmed this property before? Where the person in the orange shirt was taking pictures of you the buildings looked familiar.
Great video as always and amazing skills. 🤙🏼
What benefit is it to dry the cherries?
The water causes them to split, via osmosis - the water on the outside travels through the semi-permeable membrane (the skin) into the inside of the cherry, trying to equalize the concentration of sugar on either side of the membrane, causing it to grow and split. That's the short answer...there are other factors at play too that aggravate the situation, such as sunlight/heat and micro-cracks in the skin.
to keep them from spoiling on the branch
Cherries about a month before harvesting time need to be kept dry while still on the trees. Rain that sits on them can cause them to split open with the added moisture being absorbed, and a split cherry invites mold and other unfavorable things. Too many trees get a damaged yield, and the entire harvest can (and usually is) scrapped.
water can accumulate on the cherries and can cause them to rot, split, or both
Apparently after a rain the cherries will absorb water that is sitting on them and eventually split rendering them worthless.
This goes under "stuff I never knew was a thing". Pretty cool.
is a branch being thrown upward by the vortex wind into a rotor a concern?
What is the reason for drying the trees and also at the beginning , what are the white trees at the end of the first few runs you made?
We dry the trees to prevent the fruit from splitting when it gets wet. I don’t know what those white trees are; they’re probably windbreak trees of some sort.
have you ever worked with someone on the ground to compare the difference of flying over at 5-10ft vs 20-25ft? Dry effectiveness, fruit disruption, etc.
I like to practice dusting and drying in my helicopter simulator
Water causes the fruit to expand, resulting in growth too exponential for the delicate skin's cell structure to maintain. ... In attempts to ensure helicopters fly over their orchards first and minimize rain damage, growers have begun purchasing their own helicopters to dry their fruit even before the rain has stopped.
Hi Maria. Next cherry season it would be good to see a video where you start the cherry season with another on-board camera and narration but also with someone on the ground so that you could cut from inside the helicopter and also see you turning etc from outside. Just give that context of manoeuvrability. Thanks.
Unfortunately, there isn't any money in the budget to hire that person on the ground. We'll see how the channel does over the winter and how many new members join up.
Why don't have a wire strike protection system if you're spending so much time in the danger zone? is it too expensive or not worth it? (I could see how it wouldn't help with sideways strikes) The reverse question is: why don't the farmers don't burry their lines if they have regular helicopter services?
Wire strike systems only work if you’re going fast enough to cut the wires AND hit the wires just right. It would be a waste of money for this work. They only have helicopter service after it rains for three to five weeks a year. Why pay to bury them when the pilots can just avoid them? 🤷🏻♀️
You can't bury high voltage power lines. They create too much heat and need to be in open air. Secondly, the orchard doesn't own the power lines - a power company owns the power lines.
What happens if I plant a few cherry trees on my lawn and don't have a helicopter? Are there other ways to dry the cherries?
My old boss would fly over pecan trees in an air tractor at first frost to keep the pecans from freezing!
You're going to have to run with technology as it comes forward. I imagine oversize drones will be used in time. When an era ends another starts.
They're already trying to get drones doing this work. I think they will replace us within 10 years. Won't bother me. I'll already be retired.
@@FlyingMAir Your experience would be valued in that transition.
I use helicopters to keep frost of my blueberries
Great video! I just learned that cherry drying with heli’s existed. Phew, dangerous stuff but excellent flying! I have a question - how much can you rely on ground effect when doing this? I suppose it’s not as effective due to the trees vs. being above more or less solid ground?
Ground effect doesn’t really matter much here. I’m just one person on a helicopter capable of carrying four so I’ve got plenty of power.
I heard it cost like $300 an hour to own a helicopter like this, would you say that is accurate?
More, but not much more. It depends on how much you fly. The more you fly, the cheaper it is per hour.
@@FlyingMAir
The more you fly the more maintenance costs start to dip into your bottom line
just flying my helicopter to dry the cherry trees..they don't seem to mind too much
For me it was Antenna's whipping in high seas and the ships slipstream on a rescue hoist, wires would be pucker factor of #10 also... Keep the shiny side up......
I have no idea how I got here, but now I know why cherries are so expensive.
My guess is the worst part of your day is driving to work and any day someone wants to pay you to fly around makes a good day into an excellent day.
Thanks for sharing your videos, I used to live in Wenatchee :) I wonder if you ever dried my Family's cherries, the Thackers. It looks like youre close to their property in this video.
No, although the name sounds familiar.
@@FlyingMAir Im also related to the Kennedy Racing family at WVSO
Really cool. And, uh, you were wondering if you might end up on TH-cam? Yes, you are. Hee hee hee.
There is a very cool video I love watching you fly the helicopter. I was wondering do you take people up on chartered flights?
Yes, I do.
I live over here on the West side of the mountains By Olympia if I get over that way I will get ahold of you I'd love to go for a flight
I love the Internet! I just learned that drying cherries by helicopter was a thing and a few seconds later I can watch a video of it with detailed narration from the pov of a pilot! (It was mentioned on the British TV show QI, btw: th-cam.com/video/fQpOdxdEy9w/w-d-xo.html )
I've always wondered why the pilot is primarily right seat in helicopters. And, I didn't expect the right had controls to be centered. Next video you do, can you explain the interior setup?
I'd also like to say, the whole reason I got my fixed wing licence because I wanted to fly helicopters. I'm now watching your video from 2016 and the camera is on your left giving me a better view of how you fly. Is it still a ridiculous amount of money per hour?
www.google.com/search?q=why+does+a+helicopter+pilot+sit+on+the+right&rlz=1C1CHBD_enUS829US829&oq=why+does+a+helicopter+pili&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0.13910j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8