Sikorsky S-58 Startup and Cherry Drying
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- Опубліковано 11 кві 2022
- Hey all! Since people don't seem to like my music choices very much I figured I'd share a more unedited video from my POV of flying the Sikorsky S-58 on a cherry drying contract.
Most people, including myself didn't even know this was a job that needed to be done. When water is allowed to sit on the cherries, they will continuously absorb the water while expanding to the point where the skin will split and ruin the cherry. so Helicopters are used to "blow dry" the cherry trees and save the cherries from destroying themselves. - Авто та транспорт
From a old UH-34D Crew Chief, it's good to know that the piston powered birds are still flying. Captain Downy and myself took the last scheduled flight of the last active duty UH-34D in the Marine Corps. Her next flight was to the bone yard. I miss her to this day. Have a great flight.
Well thank you for your service! That must have been a hell of a time flying these things back then. I hope my video brought back some good memories.
Thank for your service Marine!
I love that these reach the real guys!
So hard to fly the piston machines with torque droop with engine speed. I’ve always been in awe of pilots flying these in hot and high places etc.
As a young Marine I had the pleasure to ride in one of these at an air show at New River and guess who was flying it as a guest? MajGen Tom Braaten
111111
The most fascinating part is how you guys can understand each other in the radio.
Years of practice.
It is perfect without music - just the original sound! Thank you for sharing!
yes sounds like a 1950s tractor
A lot of times any music, no matter how good, only takes away from the unique sounds we can't experience ourselves. Love this video form personally.
Spróbuj go obejrzeć z „Szczęśliwym synem” grającym w tle. Możesz sobie wyobrazić, że zrzuca Agenta Orange na drzewa. ua-cam.com/video/ec0XKhAHR5I/v-deo.html
music always sucks no matter what kind.... no music ever.
@@spacebogey1115That’s because it is just that! Flew several thousand hours in B47’s, always wanted to have a go in a bigger one with piston power like the S58.
I was today years old (63) when I found out that cherries needed drying. I also thought that those old sikorskys had turbine engines. Excellent video.
Yeah today a majority of them having the twin pack pt-6 turbine engines. As far as I'm aware, we're the only operators left who use radial S-58s
@@sinfulldoubt how on Earth do you guys find spares for those R-1820s? Those are 1820s, right?
@@FN_FAL_4_ever If they share parts with the DC3's, there are still rebuilders out there for the piston pounders of the DC3 variety.
Buffalo Airways still uses those, to get freshed up engines.
no adult should ever ever say "i was today years old"
@@congoparrot 🤣🤣🤣
Thank you, Thank you for not putting music in this video! The natural sounds from this helicopter are music in itself.
My Father-in-Law ( who just passed away 2 months ago) flew these in Vietnam. He was part of "The Purple Fox's". He brought fresh men to the front, and brought the wounded and dead back. After Vietnam he went on to fly for United Airline's, retiring as a Captain on the 747, flying from Hawaii to Taipa, and China. I married his daughter in 88', unknowingly to anyone, we happened to buy a house right next door to his Ex Crew Chief's daughters house!! What's the chances of that?!?!? So we were able to get them back together. They hadn't seen each other since Vietnam.
Very cool. I can't even imagine the anxiety of flying one of these into a combat zone. Those guys were a special breed!
@@Burnedtoastify oh yeah..lots of ops with HMM-363 and 364...
My neighbor was a 747 Captain who flew the last flight out of the OLD Hong Kong airport for United as well until he had to take a medical. I also worked for UA in their computer/communications center in Denver.
What was your father in-law's name, maybe flew together with my neighbor Benny?
Airline's with an apostrophe??? Wowwwwww
@@fourseasons2349 my uncle Bob Schena flew with Don Shields with HMM363. My uncle only lasted two and a half months before they had to ditch, due to engine failure. Himself co-pilot crew chief and Gunner along with eight recon Marines perished unfortunately
Thank you so much for showing us all the amazing details in starting up the S-58 and the cherry drying organizational work. It was a pleasure to see you handling the heli.
No problem, glad you saw this one lol. You still thinking about making an S58 sim?
@@sinfulldoubt Yes, I already created a version of the H-34 (S-58).
It's downloadable for free here: de.flightsim.to/file/25096/native-helicopter-sikorsky-h34
You need the Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 however.
My own video is here:
ua-cam.com/video/rdg0ikT843I/v-deo.html
and another video from Rotor Sim Pilot is this one:
ua-cam.com/video/vM3nkiKFwSs/v-deo.html
Still some work to do but atm I'm busy with other projects.
Have fun and many happy landings.
Great tutorial. After watching this, I'm now adding 'Trained Sikorsky S-58 pilot' to my resume. Thanks!
Glad I could help 🤣 I'd actually be curious to see if someone could start the thing after watching this video. I obviously didn't i put everything in the video though.
@@sinfulldoubt Seriously though, I just bought a bag of cherries today and will never eat another one without thinking of this video. I had absolutely no idea.
This was awesome, Love the old radial sikorskys and as a pilot really appreciate hearing all the systems running and doing their ting. Bravo from New Zealand.
Hey, you're in NZ too! What kinda work do you do as a pilot?
Flew with 202 sqdn RAF air sea rescue in a Wessex the westland jet powered version of the Sikorsky, one of those great life moments you never forget , thanks for showing us this great helicopter still doing a great job 👍
Used to love seeing these bright yellow beauties when they came to rescue people in peril off the coast of Dawlish in Devon as a child, later in life I worked at Rowardennan youth hostel in Scotland and you chaps would often land the Sea Kings on the front lawn as we were at the base of Ben Lomond. Thank you to you and your colleagues for all the countless lives you saved👍
I'm an avionics engineer on the new Sikorsky H-53K and it's a wonder to see these old radial engine and analog S-58 still kicking ass and taking names! Thanks for the video
This is 100% a "Flying Machine". No other word describes this amazing box of bolts.
I'm not sure it really flies, my theory is it is so ugly that the Earth is repelling it! 😉
Yep theres planes ,Helis,.... and then there are flying machines. This is one of them :)
I decided to nickname this one The Millennium Falcon.
She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts XD.
A helicopter is a collection of metal and bolts trying to fly out in all directions held together by money and love.
@@bigal1863😂😂
This fleet has to cost a huge fortune to keep them flying. So cool to see the ole birdros still doing it. Great pilots too
Oh yeah I'm sure it's up there. I'm fairly sure we charged about $3k an hour to fly for the farmers
I had an amazing opportunity to meet Lt. Trong when I went and visited Vietnam. Lt. Trong flew with the 219th KingBee Squadron. He had very many stories to tell about the MACV guys from back in the day. He flew with John "Stryker" Meyer on a number of missions, iirc. Those KingBee pilots were some of the most badass and respected pilots towards the tail end of the war in Vietnam.
Very cool! Fixed winger here. Never had a clue this was a "thing". Short of a hurricane or tornado destroying everything in its path, this has got to be some of the most expensive wind EVER! Especially this season!
Oh yeah it's pricy but the farmers say that it saves them a ton of money
Well, a ruined crop will cost you a lot more money than a pilot contract. Besides, I bet there are people who would PAY to fly an antique aircraft like that old Sikorsky!
I would have used a donkey cart with a generator and huge fans on it (pointing up at 45°). Then I would use carrot/string technology as a guidance system.
I love this stuff ! The anticipation of the start-up is just as exciting as the actual flight! Sincerely, from an old military kid
Well stay tuned. I'm working on a startup video for the S-58T right now
@@sinfulldoubt cool, maybe you could set it up like split screen?
One showing the flight instrumentation checklist, and the other outside the aircraft showing the smoke out and blade rotation, while supporting the awesome sounds of the startup. Much abliged 🫡
I could watch three hours of drying cherries very easily.
Thank you.
This is way cool! My cousin flew H-34s with HMM-362 Ugly Angels in VN 1966-67 and shot down 4 times but made it home! My favorite helo!
Oh that's really cool! We actually have one in the ugly angels livery that we bought from a museum and made airworthy again. I've got a few good pics of it.
Never knew until now that I want to be a cherry dryer as well! Cool job!
On valentines day 1968 I was stationed at a firebase just east and south of Khe Sanh. There was a huge firefight on a mountain between the two places. At about 1500 we saw a 34 haulin it down the valley toward us and and flying very erratically. Side to side and dipping then pulling up like a drunk was at the controls. He headed down the ridge and it appeared he would crash into the minefield we had all around us but he pulled up at the last second. Now we are are actually above him in the machinegun pit. He pulls as much as he can and skims the top of the pit knocking the M 60 down on top of us. We both jumped up to see him skidding across the LZ. I was first there and I could see the door gunner bleeding all over the floor of the chopper. I could tell he would survive an ankle wound so I climbed up to the flight deck. The right seater was shot through the femoral and the floorboard was an inch deep in blood. I first looked at him and then to the left seater who was obviously dead or dying with a chest wound. Now my mind raced as to what to do first. We got the right seater down and web belted his leg. We did the same with gunner. The left seater was gone so we got his body down. To this day I cannot smell hydraulic fluid without thinking of them. Oddly this same crew had landed at our LZ with a shot up 34 earlier in the day and had returned to get another. We spent most of that day and night looking through the chopper for a report. From what we saw only one round went through the skin and ricocheted and tumbled through all those bodies. One stinking Ak round. Never did learn of the crews ultimate fate but I have never forgotten their dedication by going back into hell in that second chooper.
I was a crew chief on a rescue H34j (143898) at the time in history . It was the Navy & stationed in a safe part of the world . Whenever I flew, I always had thoughts of the guys In Vietnam getting shot at in those fragile helos . But I did love it all & will never forget those tail # just like my ID # 👍🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
I was there in 68 and 69 and I have to say helicopter pilots had balls of pure steel
That's one of the best sounding bucket of bolts I've heard in a _longgg_ time! This Sikorsky is my idea of a machine... older, dependable, reality-based technology. Reminds me of lawn mowers and go-karts I used in my youth and the breaker-point muscle cars we all worked on from the 60s. As organic as can be.
Touch everything as you check and verify the gauges - love it!
This video is incredible, I had no idea there were any S58's still being used. I have only ever seen them in museums. I was in the Army and flew on UH-60 blackhawks. If I remember correctly the Army called these CH-34 Choctaws. So nice to see a historical aircraft still being maintained and used. 👍🏻
Yup! Mine used to fly in the Marines when it was first built as a Choctaw. I had only ever seen one in a museum too before I got hired to fly the thing. Definitely a great experience
Pretty cool to see Sikorsky s-58's still flying!
Those old radial Sikorskys are just awesome! And there‘s quite a squadron of those on the pad there…..! Interesting video, but it makes me wonder a bit about today‘s agriculture.
This was an absolute joy to watch, from beginning to end.
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it
I grew up with my dad in the U.S. Air Force in the 50s and 60s, the UH-34 was my favorite helicopter. Good to see them still flying. Love the sound of the radial engine.
Steve ~ Those round engines are music to my ears. Rough at start-up, but purr like a kitten at operating RPM.
The good old days of piston engined aircraft! I knew Army pilots who flew them. One of them told me how they kept the transmission and motor oil flowing in below zero temps up in Alaska.
I work on the loading docks, these are always fun to watch after the rain
(Edit) After further watching the video, I realized that we work the same orchard and the same company. 😂 YT recommend is weird
That's awesome lol, small world. Well if you saw the black and gold heli flying from 2019-2021 that was me. This year they have pretty much an all new crew
Where is this? I haven't come across a comment and it doesn't say in the video description where this is just curious is all.
Yes a lot of us aircraft enthusiasts want to hear the aircraft. Thanks for the content
No problem! Glad you enjoyed it
@@sinfulldoubt Low battery? No hot starts with a radial lol
@@DAVIDALD49 yeah hot starts are pretty tricky to do right in a radial lol. But at least you can't hot start them like a turbine 😂 but the low battery definitely made it harder to crank this thing over
Sounds way better from the outside!
This popped up on my recommendations and YT again doesnt disappoint. I love these kinds of videos, engine start up procedures from trains and tanks and semis to ships, airplanes and helos.
These old Sikorsky’s are my favorite helicopter. The design with pilots above the crew area and that radial engine out front is just an Amazon creation. Wish I had the chance to ride in one of them.
These are the COOLEST Helicopters in the Sikorsky lineup. Glad to see some are still flying:)-John in Texas
No... oh just no, super or king stallion is far far cooler... maybe even the pave hawk, this is just a dated rust bucket that was retired in 1970.
What an amazing machine. I would love to fly in one of these. Wish there was somewhere around where I live that I could pay to ride in one of these old helicopters. They are so unique in their design.
Where do you live?
Radio: *static, noise, gibberish, squeaks and squeals*
Pilot: Roger that, loud and clear.
😅😂😅😂
I never had the chance to fly one of those, but i think they're excellent machines. I did have a good friend that flew them in the Marine Corp, and after he was out for an offshore company. Excellent pilot and a good man. 👍 Miss you Lloyd.😊😊
This was totally new to me. Never heard about the process of drying a field with a helicopter. The area around the cherry fields looks already so dry, but I guess there are sometimes heavy rain falls?
Thanks for sharing the video. The old helicopter is probably a super reliable machine, but the sounds it makes at the beginning would scare me a lot as a novice :) It reminded me on a mix of a tractor and lawnmower :)
Highly doubt a piston helicopter is very reliable... Those things will kill you...
Oh yeah it's definitely a bit of a dry area but they still get plenty of rain right at the worst times for the cherries lol.
When I'm asked to describe flying the thing, I usually say that it feels like flying an old farm tractor
the beginning sound makes this 100 times better
@@sinfulldoubt it sounds like a lawn tractor for sure! :)
@@OverKillPlusOne Piston engine.
Thanks for this. I Have never flown an S58. Only Uh-1 & Ah-1G & H-46. The last transition class at Rucker in the H-34 (S58) led our graduation fly by at Rucker in 1971. Thanks for the view!
Thank you for making the film. I am quite a fan of the Sikorsky S-58T, and flew in a couple of different examples in NYC, during 1989 and 1996. They were once used on the southern North Sea, to re-supply gas rigs.
Glad you enjoyed it
Love seeing old radial birds still earning a living ride in one few times
Great stuff, thanks! Now halos are officially wind making machines 😀
I've been very fortunate to fly helicopters for over twenty years. In that time I've flown many different airframes, but never lucky enough to get my hands on an S-58. Loved the video.
Yeah I didn't even realize how lucky I was to get that job fresh out of flight school. It's a very cool airframe to get to fly, especially solo
MURICA. Love the sound of that radial.
I always hated getting waken up at 4am but one I heard that radial roar to life, my attitude changed pretty quick 😂
Just loving the sound , your captions help to understand this beast , am going to enjoy this one again on a bigger screen !
watching people work their normal jobs for me is hella fun
Beautiful aeroplane. Glad to see there is still life and usefulness in them. 👍
it's a hellicopter, not a plane
@@Thomas-nc9fz a helicopter is a rotary-winged aeroplane. Thanks for your input. 🙄
Lol never knew about cherry drying and loved the POV aspect of flying this legendary helicopter, thanks a lot for sharing.
No problem, glad you enjoyed it
I used to work the flight line at a small airport. By far these birds are the loudest damn things I ever had to work around. The only aircraft I needed both plugs and muffs for. Sheesh.
I remember one just like this that was used as an aerial crane for a company in Ft Lauderdale called Heliflight. It was school and performed other helicopter related services with a fleet of R22s , 44s , a bell 206 and a twin of the helicopter in this video.
I run the train on those tracks! Always fun seeing you guys.
Small world! I bet that's a fun route when you go along the Colombia, especially by the dam.
Great video, really good to see these old girls are still flying!
Helicopters work great for air movement over a large area. Sounds like a cool job!!
They do work pretty well for moving air lol
Absolutely awesome video, thanks for posting this! Awesome startup sounds too :)
Very cool video. Nice to see old helo's like this still putting in work! Gotta say, your job looks pretty fun🚁😎
I'm jealous.I could listen to that 1500 hp radial all day. I never flew a S-58 but I was told they are very nice to fly. I can't fly any more due to a crash when the tail rotor box failed in my old Jet Ranger. My right arm and right eye are not what they used to be. I do fly light aircraft with a recreational licence.
Sorry to hear that. Glad I could share this video for you to get a glimpse at least
Sikorsky got my heart... love my CH-53 so much🫶🏻 there helicopters are pure joy!
No wonder cherries cost so much...LOL. Great video from a S-58T engineer.
few people know that sikorsky original designed the cherry dryer (what is now known as the helicopter) just for drying cherries. It was only later he realized it had other uses,
When I was a kid I used to love watching the helicopters drying the cherries across the street. Now they have propellers mounted on towers that turn on after it rains
Oh yeah they still use those too
You DID play music!! The music of these old girls!!
Had no idea these were still flying with radials. Have always liked this helicopter since building a model of one when I was a kid. Great video.
Great classic helicopter and engine sound 👍
What the hell kind of paradise of a channel did I stumble upon? All these old gorgeous birds AND a shit ton of cab over fuel trucks? 😮😂 Subbed!!
Glad you liked it 🤣 maybe I'll need more from Washington
So many S58's, that is very special!
very cool to watch, never seen the cockpit of one of these or the pov of one in use. thank you so much
Awesome awesome video Sir , Thankyou, that radil is beautiful when she starts up, noisy too ! I can see that old bird has done many hours but flys like a new one. The old Sikorski was the agricultural workhorse back in the day...............it looks like you have quite a few at your base. Thanks again, loved every second !
No problem, glad you enjoyed the video
This channel is facinating. I love seeing all the different types of jobs you are doing. So cool!
Thank you! I should have some video up from my power line job shortly as well. Unfortunately I didn't record as much as I wanted to there either
Hats off to you. Doing that job would drive me crazy!
Awesome, crazy to remember all the procedures for start up
It definitely takes some practice to get it right. But that's why we still make sure to use the checklist.
She is such a beauty, wow! I never knew cherry drying was a thing, but I’m glad it is 😁 Would love to see more videos of these gals!
Nice video! I really liked the captions and ambient sounds. Thank you.
For a bit I kept thinking "cherry drying? what the heck?" until i read the description.
interesting bit of trivia about cherries! very cool to see things from a pilot's pov.
I was the same way when I was applying for the job 😂
We do Heli mustering of cattle in Australia usually with a Robbie at about 30'. They could do this job quite well I reckon. Bush pilots are some of the best! Great vid - thanks
Yes and no, you need the big heavy choppers because they create huge downwash turbulence and that is what blows the water off the cherries. These big boys will do in one pass what the Robbie would take 4 to do. Same for frost fighting.
Very cool. My only critique is for your spotter. He should not be parking his vehicle in the only emergency landing spot given your altitude. He's in a truck....don't park in the emergency LZ. Great video!
Thanks for a great ride in a classic helicopter. Looks like a nice way to make a living.
Thanks for the commentary along the ways really helps to understand better .. would be great job to have for sure
all fun and games until charlie pops out of the bush
😅😂😅😂
I laughed hard !
Thanks for sharing your amazing experience to work with such a great piece of helicopter history!! Awesome video!!
Thank you for your service ! All the cherries are now saved !
😂 it's honest work but somebody's gotta do it
@@sinfulldoubt Its amazing work ! Btw may i ask how much time to accomplish helicopter training ?
I was a technician on the CH34,s in Ansback Germany from 1964 to 1967 so glad they are still flying. Hope we get one for MSFS. Right now fling bell407
I'm pretty sure someone actually has already made one for flight sim. I think he posted the link somewhere in the comments on this video or my other flight training video
When I was a CFI down in Moses Lake I'd always take my students up to Anderson for their first xc flight, and we'd see these helicopters parked up there. I'd heard about the cherry drying ops, but never actually seen it in action until now. Awesome vid man!
That's awesome. We always have some fun watching the students land. We only get about 3-5 planes a week usually. I'll have a few more videos coming soon as I make them in my off time.
I have a love/hate relationship with the s-58, one if my friends owns one and whenever he asks me to remove the rotor covers I always misjudge where they’ll come down and they always hit me on the head but at the same time I have a lot of love for these helicopters
Oh I've done that plenty of times 😅 I try to catch them when they come down but that's not always easy, especially if it's windy at all lol
@@sinfulldoubt How do you get them back on the rotor tips? Stand on a truck?
Seeing this video makes my heart beat faster.
You got a dream job!
Beautiful bird. Keep that wonderful helicopter airworthy for 100 years and that would be an achievement
That would be pretty awesome. Unfortunately the blades are timing out and nobody makes replacements, so that'll be what retires these ships in the near future
I know April was much colder than normal and that the cherry farmers were very concerned about the crop being badly damaged. I was at EAT the week before you filmed this and they were predicting snow.
Man you’re brave to fly that bucket of bolts
It's interesting that the operating costs of such an old beast are low enough that it is an economically-viable way to dry cherries. It's also impressive that the design is so durable. This is the power of the free market- people find ingenious ways to allocate resources the most productive way possible.
Yeah that always amazed me too but they said that we saved them so much money it was unreal
Awesome to hear that the sound quality of those vietnam era radios are on par with an Xbox 360 cod lobby
Alright this one made me laugh pretty good 😂 sometimes it sounds like a cod lobby on the air to air channel lol
Nice bird. I got my private rotorcraft license in 2017 and haven't been able to afford to fly since. Nice Kingbee.
This is so cool, i love all the mechanical sounds it's LIKE ASMR almost.
Thanks! I tried my best to get the sounds recorded as best I could.
Kingbees! Awesome bird. Great video. Thank you.
Don't know this was a thing either. I guess now I know why cherries are kinda pricey. Thanks for the video.
I don't think I've seen any other videos of yours but I definitely agree that I prefer the non-music version unless there is a sped-up montage type of video segment otherwise, raw is totally fine with me. 🙂
Sounds like my old Powerstroke diesel engine starting on a cold Minnesota morning... love it!
Man, You fly everthing. Great video.
Beautiful machine! One of my favorite helicopters 🚁
We also use helicopters in Yakima Washington to dry cherries after a rainfall. Too much moisture causes the cherries to split. No one wants to buy split cherries in the store. Some orchards use their large frost protection fans to blow air to speed drying.
Oh yeah, we have those fans going most of the time as well as the ground units going under the trees.
@@sinfulldoubt The Sikorsky is still a great helo
Love your videos! Hope to see more!
She’s beautiful. I’m 45 and from the Scottish highlands. I was a volunteer coastguard and when I joined in 1995 the older Sikorsky was such a joy to ride in and jump out from….the noise and the smell….heavenly. In January 2008 I flew in the newer S92 and although very impressive , it just wasn’t the same. It’s like the new aircraft compared to the 707s, 727s etc….they had character!
Hope all those old-school piston-powered Sikorsky beasts find proper homes for preservation and display when they are finally retired.
What is this retiring you speak of?