Oakland Skycrane HVAC Lift; Drops Load @ 13:00

FFWD to 13:00 for the drop; 14:20 for the aftermath. ⬇⬇ TIMELINE / NARRAITIVE BELOW ⬇⬇

Siller Helicopters of Yuba City performing a HVAC lift onto the Elihu Harris State Building, 1515 Clay St., on Saturday January 9, 2021.

The lift started out well enough at 0900h. The Sikorsky S-64E Skycrane N4035S arrived on station (0:20) with its single cable extended from the hoist. After descending so the ground crew could connect a harness/rigging (1:45 - 2:20), they began lifting accessory items (3:30) and the lighter weight base box sections (8:30). At 0945h the operation took a pause. The ground crew detached the lifting harness (11:10) and left it on the street.

The aircraft returned to Oakland Airport to refuel, and was back on station at 1010h. After connecting the rigging (12:00), the lift began of the first unit of the 4 or 5 heavier fan/condenser sections (12:40). While lifting the first unit, at a height of about 40 feet above the street, it appears the load was released (13:00) -- whether intentionally due to instability or accidentally I don't know. All rigging appears to be intact as it falls (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlTJDcLbLOg).

Impressively we did not hear the booming impact over the din of the engines and rotor chop. Nobody was injured. As the helicopter left station (14:10), the main cable is out of view, spooled up, but no stray or broken cable is visible. The helicopter immediately returned to Oakland Airport and later that day packed up and left the area.

A Siller Skycrane (I believe Siller has two in their fleet) was previously in the area on Saturday December 5, 2020, presumably performing removal of the old HVAC equipment.

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