Sikorsky-Erickson Air Crane - 'Incredible Hulk' - Start up & Take Off

2:20 Engine Start-Up.
2:50 Rotor Blades Turning.
5:30 Lift Off.

Actual Takeoff is at around 5:30, so fast forward to that point if you're impatient.

Shot with borrowed Sony PMW-EX1 Camcorder;

Filmed after the Airshow when all the aircrafts and helicopters were leaving all at once. It pays to stick around after the airshow. In my case, literally.

Video of MRH-90 (green army helicopter) take off here;

Sikorsky-Erickson Air Crane - 'Incredible Hulk'
From Wings Over Illawarra Air Show 2011

Only on Sikorsky-Erickson Air Crane would you find a staircase to tail rotor section.

Manufacturer: Sikorsky
Model: S-64E
Year built: 1968
Aircraft Type: Rotorcraft
Number of Seats: 3
Number of Engines: 2
Engine Type: Turbo-shaft
Aircraft Registration Number: N164AC

[jeffhartson]

Nothing is more awesome than watching Erickson Air Crane at work. Whether it is yarding logs off a mountain slope or doing water drops on a wildland fire. They are the best.

[jefft]

This is a GREAT video! It has stood up over 10 years to be the one to watch when observing how the S-64 starts up and flies! Thank you!

[indridcold]

Conclusion: Size does matter! Bigger is always better!If you are flying a tiny Mosquito ultralite helicopter, when you pull that tiny collector handle, you just embarrass yourself. Pulling the collector handle on an enormous sky crane will make the lasses light headed and faint. It stirs then uo!

[corpnut]

I was on a USFS fire crew in 93 in Southern Oregon east of Glide and we had a lot of fires then had one of these come and was going to drop on a stump that was on fire my boss called them on the radio and said for them to abort there run, we had a crew near the drop zone it pulled a hard left turn and you could see the blade bend up from all the G's it was pulling what an awsome bird. Lived in the Rouge valley all my life and was always excited to see them at the shop right off I5 thanks guys for all you do

[_DML_]

Just another day at the office for the S-64, but man that thing is awesome!

[johndallessandro]

Worked with this exact helicopter at GM plant, Linden N.j somewhere around 1990-91.
Had a picture of me in front and "Incredible hulk" written on the nose of the helo !! Good times !!
😀👍

[danielezuccon]

Bellissimo video fatto molto bene per me che sono appassionato di aerei ed elicotteri...stupendo. Complimenti 😊

[PapaSmurf-qq]

I had the privilege of riding along after some maintenance work, back in the 1990s at the Aurora airport. KUAO.
Great place to have much fun flying!

[oztopgun]

The Air Cranes do a fantastic job during our bushfire season...hats off to the pilots for the jobs they do and save a lot of people a lot of work. Keep up the top work guys. Special mention to the ground crews as well!!

[rimboltjaxt]

I had to rent one of these back in 1999 to set 14 twelve ton AC units on a factory roof. It was a sight to behold. As a matter of fact, it was the last rigging job the owner was going to do. He had been contracted to fly out west for firefighting duty. The riggers had it all arranged and choreographed. He landed in our parking lot at 9:00 am. The first thing they did was to off load all the excess fuel for the trip there. They flew with the bare minimum amount of fuel when working over a building for safety reasons. Once he picked up the first one, it was nonstop movement after that. We had a 14 knot wind, so the AC unit was pushed to one side about 12 feet! Didn't make a shit, he set them down on the studs with the kind of precision that a surgeon has. It took 3 minutes per unit. When he set the last one, he landed, on loaded his fuel, and was gone. I think the whole operation took less than one hour. These guys don't fuck around. The lead rigger said that the skycrane only makes money when it's in the air, so every minute counts.

[valuedhumanoid]

We had one of these beast set our HVAC units on our factory roof. It was quite amazing to watch. The wind was pushing the units out from under the chopper 15 feet and he still set them right on the studs. Once he starts, he don't stop until the job is done. We set 18 units in 22 minutes. He landed, offloaded excess fuel, did the job, landed to take on the fuel again, then took off and we never saw him again. These things are only making money when they're working, so they streamline the timetable to minutes. The ground crew told me that they had another lift that afternoon 200 miles away. All together, we paid $42, 000 for the whole thing, plus fuel. The riggers were also contracted out. The skill of the pilots is remarkable.

[sinistersparky]

It's a North American firefighting craft called a "Heli-Tanker". I've been on several fires with Erickson ships, and worked near this particular heli-tanker on the "Martis Fire" in 2002 if my memory serves me correctly. The craft is quite impressive in that it can self-load a few thousand gallons of water in about a minute. It's almost terrifying to watch it load, hearing it pull more power and pitch as it loads. Simply an awesome machine. Glad to see they are fighting fire in the south during our winter up north :)

[dulaldas]

I liked the man he was just calmly recording the helicopter

[Burnwash]

1:31 - the rarely-spotted AEWH (Australian Erect Winged Helicopter) - marvelous!

[rescyou]

They are usually used for lifting heavy objects higher than terrestrial cranes can reach, lift heavy objects to remote locations or they are used as water bombers during forrest fires.

[sempafi]

Each fire season in Victoria, we thank the pilots, crews and maintenance guys for their dedication and hard work . Without you we would be in a mess !!

[billfrench]

That's a beautiful blue Dodge back there!

[champion]

My favourite chopper, as a former CFA volunteer I admire their ability as well as their lifting capability. From memory I've watched them load 9, 000 litres in 90 seconds and with the skill of the pilots get right down into the narrowest ravine quick smart to refill and then do another circuit, brilliant old machine.

[LaurentLaborde]

that one guy watching the startup from the beginning is the one and only true helicopter fan <3

[markostevanovic]

Now i am watching one flying over Olimp in Greece, over Pieria region-it is truly amasing!