An excerpt from a YouTube interview (Kenny Keller, uploaded July 19, 2022) where a helicopter tree-sawing pilot describes the specific experience and skill requirements for the job: companies commonly require at least 1,000 flight hours (many turbine hours) and demonstrated hook/sling load experience; slinging a saw differs from other external loads. The speaker also notes having well over 7,000 flight hours and that beyond required logged hours he no longer logs every hour.
Questions this video answers
At least 1,000 flight hours ("thousand plus hours").
Turbine experience and hook/sling (load) experience.
Well over 7,000 flight hours (speaker estimate).
Chapters
Yep. The saw world, it's just so small, right? It's very small. There's a few companies out here doing it. It's very. It's a unique operation and you got to have plenty of time to get into it. You got to have at least thousand hours and you got to have some experience with a hook, some kind of load experience. Now, I can't say that for a few other companies, you know, they might different, but our company, we need thousand plus hours. A lot of it needs to be turbine and we need some hook time. Once you have that and if you get a look at, you know, we're gonna throw the saw underneath you and we're gonna put a dummy saw underneath you and see how you can do it, you might have a pile of time. You might have a pile of time with a hook, but slinging a saw is a little different than just slinging a tire around and maybe even a Bambi bucket. Couldn't even tell you how many hours I have. Well over 7,000, probably more. Doesn't matter anymore. It don't matter anymore because I don't even keep a log book, Don, except for the required that you have to. I have the required stuff logged out like 2000 some. I don't log every hour anymore because it doesn't matter. I've had the jobs I wanted. Yeah. And to be honest with you, I don't even know where my log book is. Don't have a clue. It might be in my gun safe somewhere. But you get to that point in the utility world when you're just married to it, you just go to work. It's just work, you know, the hours, I'd love to give them away, you know, but I can't.
