The church was built in the 1950s and the statue was added as part of a recent major refurbishment and extension project. The cargo hook was fitted with a HeliNav LoadMaster made by Sensor Technology. This feeds the helicopter pilot with live information about the load hanging beneath his aircraft, making complex operations safer, easier and more efficient.
Additionally the system logs data on load, distance, location and flight path, giving the operating company a complete set of information for its client billing and aircraft maintenance scheduling.
The primary reason for using aerial lifting is often a financial one – a helicopter can typically lift up to 1.9 tonnes and can work out at a fraction of the cost of hiring a crane.
A ground-based craning operation will require a team of people working closely together because the driver won’t have line of sight, road closures and traffic management may be required, etc. Additionally, there may be costs associated with locating the crane in a suitable position, say in a third party’s car park. Typically the crane will be required for at least a day, whereas a helicopter often performs the lift in a matter of minutes.
Tony Ingham of Sensor Technology said: “The lift required a brief stoppage of the traffic on the nearby A-road, but nothing else. The whole operation was carried out quickly and efficiently and the few safety issues were addressed in the early planning stages.
https://www.sensors.co.uk/hss0417
