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.
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.
Spróbuj go obejrzeć z „Szczęśliwym synem” grającym w tle. Możesz sobie wyobrazić, że zrzuca Agenta Orange na drzewa. ruclips.net/video/ec0XKhAHR5I/видео.html
@@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.
@@runpnyhow does some one get trained or qualify to do some thing like this since these aircraft are quite old etc. Would it be a case of obtaining a private pilots license and further training for these or 🤔
@@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.
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.
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?
@@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.
@@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: ruclips.net/video/rdg0ikT843I/видео.html and another video from Rotor Sim Pilot is this one: ruclips.net/video/vM3nkiKFwSs/видео.html Still some work to do but atm I'm busy with other projects. Have fun and many happy landings.
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.
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
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👍
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.
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.
@@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 🫡
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.
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.
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.
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 # 👍🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
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.
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
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 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 :)
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
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!
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.😊😊
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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
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 !
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.
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.
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!
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!
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
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
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.
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.
How this has escaped me across my seven decades until now, ... I've no clue. This is fascinating ... drying the precious crop by helicopter! wtf? No idea. PLUS, the coolest damn machine, obviously has quite the history as shared in these comments. Gotta rank way up there in coolest gig ever (moving in the diagonal as you monitor with a spectacular view). Yep, ... quite unique coolest gig, def vectored way out there as an outlier. That old bird just keeps putting in the work! Great content.
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 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.
These helicopters are unqiue! The engine in the nose and shaft all the way up to the rotor always puzzled me. Also, its great you added no music. The noises of the helicopter and radio traffic etc makes it much more watchable and real feeling
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,
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. 🙂
@@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
Thank you very much . It takes more than 10 minutes to fly away to the sky . Many many checking things are required before to fly . I couldn’t know it before this video clip to watch . Sep. 12th 2022 Mon. 22:49 from Yokohama City Japan
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.
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.
It's amazing that most people don't realize that the actual radial engine for this helicopter, belongs to a tank engine. The fact that they decided to use this radial engine is testimony on its reliability. Just make sure everyone understands this is not a turban radial engine this is a piston engine, you can tell by listening to it when it first fires up that is merely a piston with a valve train. It's pretty remarkable when you think about
I mean the 1820 cyclone was used in plenty of aircraft though, and was designed for that (famous example being the B-17). It's more a testament to the engine's sheer power-output (and the output of other radial engines) that it was not only used for aircraft and later rotary wing craft, but even tanks.
That looks like Brewster Washington. I used to live up the river in Tonasket and my Ex In-laws had a Apple / Cherry orchard behind them. They HATED when the helos came over to dry them. I loved them. Lots of Jet Rangers and Hueys.
Yup that's correct! That's kinda funny though 😂 I'm sure people are not a fan of all the noise in the summers, especially when we're taking off right at the crack of dawn. One of the ships even flys at night with NVGs
Brilliant video, just a warning, I turned up the sound to listen to the engine with my head phones on, about halfway ish 9:40 there are radio communications that are incredibly loud, blew my ears off! So watch your volume settings 👍
Sorry about that. I'm finally back on land and just added a subtitle to the video as a warning. Thanks for giving me a good marker on where to put the warning.
What a fabulous machine!!! I've always loved these helis since I was a kid, and it's good to know that there are still people who have the drive to keep them flying. One question though - are we hearing the radio calls as you hear them in the cockpit, or are they more distorted on the recording? Some of them sound almost unintelligible, which I can't imagine makes your jo any easier! Fantastic video, thanks for sharing it.
They were definitely clearer in the heli but not perfect by any means. A lot of it is probably the cheaper handheld radios that the ground crew was using. I didn't have any problems hearing the other aircraft.
@@sinfulldoubt I wondered what they did before helicopters and other hi-tech drying techniques back centuries ago. Maybe they hired people to shake the trees? Haha.
@@scotthutchens1203 that's a good question. It wouldn't surprise me if they did that. The orchards also have large windmills that are powered by a V8 engine that they'll use to move air over the tops of the trees. They also use them to help prevent frost when the temps drop. On top of that, they have these blower carts that they tow down the rows to get the trees from the underside.
At 2:10, the second he shut the door, I swore that I could almost smell the aircraft from here. I miss being in aviation. Edit: on another note, now I know why cherries are expensive. I kid lol
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
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. ruclips.net/video/ec0XKhAHR5I/видео.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.
The most fascinating part is how you guys can understand each other in the radio.
Years of practice.
You should be anticipating the readback
@@runpnyhow does some one get trained or qualify to do some thing like this since these aircraft are quite old etc.
Would it be a case of obtaining a private pilots license and further training for these or 🤔
@@krishampton7060 good question since id love to have a job like this sadly nobody answered
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:
ruclips.net/video/rdg0ikT843I/видео.html
and another video from Rotor Sim Pilot is this one:
ruclips.net/video/vM3nkiKFwSs/видео.html
Still some work to do but atm I'm busy with other projects.
Have fun and many happy landings.
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?
Great video
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
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👍
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.
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.
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😂😂
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 🫡
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 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.
I could watch three hours of drying cherries very easily.
Thank you.
Never knew until now that I want to be a cherry dryer as well! Cool job!
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.
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
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.
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
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 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.
This was an absolute joy to watch, from beginning to end.
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it
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!
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.😊😊
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?
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
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
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.
Pretty cool to see Sikorsky s-58's still flying!
Just loving the sound , your captions help to understand this beast , am going to enjoy this one again on a bigger screen !
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 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.
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
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.
Helicopters work great for air movement over a large area. Sounds like a cool job!!
They do work pretty well for moving air lol
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
No wonder cherries cost so much...LOL. Great video from a S-58T engineer.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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!
Nice bird. I got my private rotorcraft license in 2017 and haven't been able to afford to fly since. Nice Kingbee.
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!
very cool to watch, never seen the cockpit of one of these or the pov of one in use. thank you so much
Thanks for a great ride ... one of my favorite ships of all time. Interesting work...and fun too. You're an awesome pilot Sir. God bless.
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
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
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!
Great video, really good to see these old girls are still flying!
Great stuff, thanks! Now halos are officially wind making machines 😀
Hats off to you. Doing that job would drive me crazy!
Radio: *static, noise, gibberish, squeaks and squeals*
Pilot: Roger that, loud and clear.
😅😂😅😂
Everyone be talking about pistons idk what you guys are talking about but this was super cool and really interesting to watch thx
Very cool video. Nice to see old helo's like this still putting in work! Gotta say, your job looks pretty fun🚁😎
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.
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.
How this has escaped me across my seven decades until now, ... I've no clue.
This is fascinating ... drying the precious crop by helicopter! wtf? No idea.
PLUS, the coolest damn machine, obviously has quite the history as shared in these comments.
Gotta rank way up there in coolest gig ever (moving in the diagonal as you monitor with a spectacular view).
Yep, ... quite unique coolest gig, def vectored way out there as an outlier.
That old bird just keeps putting in the work!
Great content.
Thanks! I didn't think the job was real when I first heard about it either. Who would have known I'd be doing it a short while later.
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 😂
Thanks for a great ride in a classic helicopter. Looks like a nice way to make a living.
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.
These helicopters are unqiue! The engine in the nose and shaft all the way up to the rotor always puzzled me. Also, its great you added no music. The noises of the helicopter and radio traffic etc makes it much more watchable and real feeling
Glad you enjoyed it! It was definitely a sweet helicopter to fly. I'm gonna miss it a lot
Absolutely awesome video, thanks for posting this! Awesome startup sounds too :)
Nice video! I really liked the captions and ambient sounds. Thank you.
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,
Very fascinating, this is totally new to me, I never knew about this or that 🍒 even needed to be dried..
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. 🙂
You DID play music!! The music of these old girls!!
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. 🙄
Thanks for the commentary along the ways really helps to understand better .. would be great job to have for sure
Seeing this video makes my heart beat faster.
You got a dream job!
What an old tank! Ive got 7 jumps from an S-61. Cool machines.
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!
Thank you very much .
It takes more than 10 minutes to fly away to the sky .
Many many checking things are required before to fly .
I couldn’t know it before this video clip to watch .
Sep. 12th 2022 Mon. 22:49
from Yokohama City Japan
This helicopter definitely has a long start up compared to what I'm flying now. Hello from Yaizu. Was just in Yokohama this afternoon.
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.
Great job , beutiful Sikorsky ,,I had to google why Cherries needs to be drying
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
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
Don't know this was a thing either. I guess now I know why cherries are kinda pricey. Thanks for the video.
Amazing old choppers! Hope the 58’s keep flying for a long time yet.
Oh I'm sure they will be. Just gotta hope we can get some more blades at some point
Great classic helicopter and engine sound 👍
It's amazing that most people don't realize that the actual radial engine for this helicopter, belongs to a tank engine. The fact that they decided to use this radial engine is testimony on its reliability. Just make sure everyone understands this is not a turban radial engine this is a piston engine, you can tell by listening to it when it first fires up that is merely a piston with a valve train. It's pretty remarkable when you think about
I mean the 1820 cyclone was used in plenty of aircraft though, and was designed for that (famous example being the B-17). It's more a testament to the engine's sheer power-output (and the output of other radial engines) that it was not only used for aircraft and later rotary wing craft, but even tanks.
I didn't realize it was used in tanks too
watching people work their normal jobs for me is hella fun
That looks like Brewster Washington. I used to live up the river in Tonasket and my Ex In-laws had a Apple / Cherry orchard behind them. They HATED when the helos came over to dry them. I loved them. Lots of Jet Rangers and Hueys.
Yup that's correct! That's kinda funny though 😂 I'm sure people are not a fan of all the noise in the summers, especially when we're taking off right at the crack of dawn. One of the ships even flys at night with NVGs
Man you’re brave to fly that bucket of bolts
Thanks for sharing your amazing experience to work with such a great piece of helicopter history!! Awesome video!!
Haha my dad used to work on 58hu when hummingbird was still around. Good to see her flying still
Small world lol. Hummingbird has been a pretty great ship
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.
Love seeing old radial birds still earning a living ride in one few times
Brilliant video, just a warning, I turned up the sound to listen to the engine with my head phones on, about halfway ish 9:40 there are radio communications that are incredibly loud, blew my ears off! So watch your volume settings 👍
Sorry about that. I'm finally back on land and just added a subtitle to the video as a warning. Thanks for giving me a good marker on where to put the warning.
@@sinfulldoubt no worries, great video!
Alex ~ This was an excellent video except at 9:40 when I lost my hearing in one ear. I was listening on AKG headphones.
@@rogertycholiz2218 lol yes it’s loud! 😂
Yes. No music! This is what people who watch these kind of videos want. Please continue that trend.
Nice flight on the Sikorsky... nice view of the columbia river and a good method to control your field.....cheers !!!
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it
What a fabulous machine!!! I've always loved these helis since I was a kid, and it's good to know that there are still people who have the drive to keep them flying. One question though - are we hearing the radio calls as you hear them in the cockpit, or are they more distorted on the recording? Some of them sound almost unintelligible, which I can't imagine makes your jo any easier!
Fantastic video, thanks for sharing it.
They were definitely clearer in the heli but not perfect by any means. A lot of it is probably the cheaper handheld radios that the ground crew was using. I didn't have any problems hearing the other aircraft.
I never realized cherries had to be dried. Very good and interesting video.
I never did either 😂 I was researching the job as I was applying for it
@@sinfulldoubt I wondered what they did before helicopters and other hi-tech drying techniques back centuries ago. Maybe they hired people to shake the trees? Haha.
@@scotthutchens1203 that's a good question. It wouldn't surprise me if they did that. The orchards also have large windmills that are powered by a V8 engine that they'll use to move air over the tops of the trees. They also use them to help prevent frost when the temps drop. On top of that, they have these blower carts that they tow down the rows to get the trees from the underside.
At 2:10, the second he shut the door, I swore that I could almost smell the aircraft from here. I miss being in aviation.
Edit: on another note, now I know why cherries are expensive. I kid lol
Smell of the inside of an aged aircraft, I feel you...I've just realized why cherries are expensive too;-)
Yeah old helicopters just have that good smell that's hard to describe.