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Can You Use A Sky Hook?
Got some steel bins you’d like moved in a hurry, or maybe a windmill or large water tank?
    These and other special moving jobs are tailor made for Imperial Helicopter’s fast-growing “skyhook” service.
    “We have a fleet of ten helicopters operating in 30 different states,” explains Kent Rudeen, sales manager of the firm which has offices in Charlotte, N.C.; St. Paul, Minn.; and Northfield, Minn. “Our main business is lifting steel beams, big air conditioning units and other such items to the top of multi-story skyscrapers under construction. But we do get a lot of calls from farmers and ranchers for special jobs.”
    Rudeen notes that most grain bins can be moved easily and quickly by helicopter. If there’s a cluster of bins to be moved, with all the bins going to the same or neighboring farms, the charge generally ranges from $200 to $400 per bin.
    Helicopter firms have an “up front” charge just for flying their machines to the job site and back. This coast generally makes it too costly to move a single bin or other item by helicopter. However, because Imperial Helicopters operates in 30 states, it may have a chopper working at a construction site nearby. “In this case, we might be able to move even a single bin faster and cheaper than other alternatives, particularly if a bridge, power or telephone lines, an overpass or other obstacle posed problem in moving it with ground equipment,” Rudeen points out.
    In addition to grain bins, the firm also custom moves a lot of windmills. “They’re light and relatively easy to move. We’ve also moved water tanks and have had calls to help lift animals out of deep gulleys and other problem spots. In a wet spring, you hear lots of rumors about farmers having to hire a helicopter to unstuck big equipment hopelessly mired in mud. But it’s mostly rumors. Firms with bigger helicopters than ours – with up to 20 tons lift capacity – may be able to do some of this mudhole lifting but the cost would be enormous.”
    Rudeen adds that, “Every spring we get calls from ice fishermaen wanting help to retrieve a car that crashed through the ice and is sitting on the bottom of a lake.”
    Imperial Helicopters also specializes in a custom, multi-state crop and livestock spraying service, headed by Pete Lonergan, 700 St. Olaf St., Northfield, Minn. (ph 507 645-7138).
    For more details on moving bins, buildings, windmills or other specialty jobs requiring a “sky hook”, contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Imperial Helicopters, Flemming Field, South St. Paul, Minn. 55075 (ph toll free 1-800-328-9292).



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1977 - Volume #1, Issue #4