Sikorsky S-58 Startup and Cherry Drying

Hey all! Since people don't seem to like my music choices very much I figured I'd share a more unedited video from my POV of flying the Sikorsky S-58 on a cherry drying contract.
Most people, including myself didn't even know this was a job that needed to be done. When water is allowed to sit on the cherries, they will continuously absorb the water while expanding to the point where the skin will split and ruin the cherry. so Helicopters are used to "blow dry" the cherry trees and save the cherries from destroying themselves.

[@arminwebster1101]

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.

[@sinfulldoubt]

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.

[@rboertbuegrrneuer7363]

Thank for your service Marine!

[@richardkudrna7503]

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.

[@kegyen]

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

[@rboertbuegrrneuer7363]

111111

[@TheRange7]

This fleet has to cost a huge fortune to keep them flying. So cool to see the ole birdros still doing it. Great pilots too

[@sinfulldoubt]

Oh yeah I'm sure it's up there. I'm fairly sure we charged about $3k an hour to fly for the farmers

[@twunt2000]

I could watch three hours of drying cherries very easily. Thank you.

[@fight2flyphoto]

This was an absolute joy to watch, from beginning to end.

[@sinfulldoubt]

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it

[@GLA741]

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.

[@TheGearhead222]

These are the COOLEST Helicopters in the Sikorsky lineup. Glad to see some are still flying:)-John in Texas

[@justinmorgan2126]

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.

[@barrywinslow9798]

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.

[@stinkybeans75]

I run the train on those tracks! Always fun seeing you guys.

[@sinfulldoubt]

Small world! I bet that's a fun route when you go along the Colombia, especially by the dam.

[@jamesmagnum]

Lol never knew about cherry drying and loved the POV aspect of flying this legendary helicopter, thanks a lot for sharing.

[@sinfulldoubt]

No problem, glad you enjoyed it

[@independentomega2701]

Nice bird. I got my private rotorcraft license in 2017 and haven't been able to afford to fly since. Nice Kingbee.

[@danpatterson8009]

It's interesting that the operating costs of such an old beast are low enough that it is an economically-viable way to dry cherries. It's also impressive that the design is so durable. This is the power of the free market- people find ingenious ways to allocate resources the most productive way possible.

[@sinfulldoubt]

Yeah that always amazed me too but they said that we saved them so much money it was unreal

[@jeichorn63]

It has to be insanely expensive for cherry farmers to have helicopters drying their trees. Thanks for the great videos and for teaching me something I never knew!

[@sinfulldoubt]

Oh yeah it's pricy but not as much as letting the crop go bad I guess

[@MrKips1]

Hats off to you. Doing that job would drive me crazy!

[@JeffS96]

I'm a truck driver and being from just over the other side of the border in Canada, as soon as you took off I was like "Lol I know exactly where this is." I always enjoyed driving by those helicopters all lined up and wondered what exactly they were used for. Also fun fact but one of those birds was an RV at some point in it's life.

[@sinfulldoubt]

Lol small world. Glad you found the video. Yeah we have it in the hangar still. Unfortunately not sure if it'll fly again or not though. It had a pretty severe crack in the airframe and had to be taken out of service for repairs

[@JeffS96]

Ahh heck. Well it had an amazing life and had to be retired at some point. Been enjoying the channel. Thanks for sharing your adventures. Normally I wish people a safe journey with "drive safe!" But in this instance, fly safe!

[@sinfulldoubt]

@@JeffS96 will do, thanks!

[@nicholasklein4055]

Absolutely awesome video, thanks for posting this! Awesome startup sounds too :)

[@fourfortyroadrunner6701]

You DID play music!! The music of these old girls!!

[@robizolli8998]

Sikorsky got my heart... love my CH-53 so much🫶🏻 there helicopters are pure joy!

[@TonVerkleijT3]

So many S58's, that is very special!

[@Nza420]

MURICA. Love the sound of that radial.

[@sinfulldoubt]

I always hated getting waken up at 4am but one I heard that radial roar to life, my attitude changed pretty quick 😂

[@paulwinterscheidt]

Sounds like my old Powerstroke diesel engine starting on a cold Minnesota morning... love it!

[@FN_FAL_4_ever]

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

[@jamesmagnum]

Smell of the inside of an aged aircraft, I feel you...I've just realized why cherries are expensive too;-)

[@sinfulldoubt]

Yeah old helicopters just have that good smell that's hard to describe.

[@BlackWindow144]

I wanted to ask why you did this, then I was reading the discription and it all made sense now. Thank you!

[@sinfulldoubt]

No problem! I'm glad to share what I did for a living. Happy that so many people are learning about it and find it as interesting as I did

[@rbnhood39]

What a beast of a machine.

[@upperechelon3456]

Very interesting video, good job. 1st, didn't know cherry drying via helos was a thing. 2nd. It looks kind of scary flying in an egg beater rust bucket. An old plane maybe but a helo? :)

[@loganperue5938]

I assume they needed the cherries dried fast and either didn’t have the time or the man power to use ground sprayers just without spraying anything, which is how it’s normally done.

[@PugFaceMedia]

Good job. I like how there’s no music. So this is why cherries are so expensive. 😛

[@urbanturbine]

Yes, we can listen to music separately anywhere anytime. We want to hear the bird :)

[@K3Flyguy]

Imagine what a combat pilot vet would think of drying cherries! Maybe would get a chuckle out of it or maybe he would simply be thankful for the leisurely job.

[@sinfulldoubt]

They seemed to struggle with the same things that all the new pilots did. But everyone enjoyed the flying at least

[@stuartshallproductions7409]

Pretty awesome, never knew cherry drying was a thing until I witnessed it for the first time this past summer near Entiat. Those S-58’s are fantastic, do you do all the maintenance on them there at Brewster?

[@sinfulldoubt]

Yeah it's definitely an oddball job but I had a lot of fun with it. They do most of the maintenance there though

[@TheKalle7]

wooooow thank you for video,i love Sikorsky

[@acefighterpilot]

Plus, the 100LL fumes enhance the flavor of the cherries.

[@nzwedjat]

Magic, just love it :)

[@MythRsR1979]

Interesting and well made video. Where is this? Looks like somewhere in Oregon if I have to guess?

[@sinfulldoubt]

Thank you! It's in North Central Washington so not far off

[@patrickbeatty3444]

Great video. Where is that located? Do you ever run frost protection at night with those birds. Looks like the had wind machines

[@paramotorpilot1749]

Hello great viseo but what are you trying to do with the Helicopter. I don't understand the drying thing. Thank you. Jon from the uk.

[@sinfulldoubt]

So when water is allowed to sit on the cherries, they will absorb it and expand. If that expansion happens too quickly, the skill will split. We're just trying to blow all the water we can off the trees.

[@paramotorpilot1749]

Thank you very much for reply and again enjoyed the video. Thank you Jon.

[@sinfulldoubt]

@@paramotorpilot1749 no problem, thanks, and glad you enjoyed it! I enjoy sharing my adventure when I can

[@Piqus3]

Until today I had no idea that cherries need to be dried, nor that an S58 could be used as a dryer. What a crazy day... 🤐

[@sinfulldoubt]

Yeah it was a very unique job that's for sure

[@raeanker3078]

Thanks for the video ,was the sound of the radio communication actually that bad live ,or was it distorted because of the GoPro ,because I couldn’t understand hardly anything communicated ,would make the job harder listening to that all day ,cheers.

[@sinfulldoubt]

It was definitely more clear in person. I think there's just some bad grounding or something and the GoPro was making it sound way more fuzzy.

[@ADM_OneCut]

Nice

[@BigStuCorby]

That old thing doesn't look safe to fly ! 😂

[@Ltblitzful]

did this company strictly use these for drying cherries or did they perform other roles?

[@sinfulldoubt]

They only do cherries with the 58s. They don't have much life left on the blades, so they're trying to extend them as much as possible.

[@WhyCallMeLordLord]

I would imagine there is a fine line between drying the cherries and knocking them off the tree. How do you determine that?

[@sinfulldoubt]

We have a ground guy who monitors us and gives us directions as far as speed or altitude adjustments. It's pretty easy to break trees, knock over the cherry crates, porto potties, people on ladders etc. So you just kinda have to keep an eye on your down wash and get a feel for it.

[@WhyCallMeLordLord]

@@sinfulldoubt Great skill to do that and my hat's off to you!

[@ticenits1926]

guess you gotta build your hours somehow, but flying in dead man's curve in a 60 year old piston craft seems awfully daunting.

[@sinfulldoubt]

Yeah not the safest thing I've ever done for hours 😂

[@freepadz6241]

Great vid. Btw, do you ever get bored on the longer drying sessions, you say that you can be drying for as long as three hours

[@sinfulldoubt]

Oh yeah it can definitely get boring. I usually put headphones in under my helmet though. Having a bit of music definitely helps

[@wyomins]

Helos are what $3k an hour at mininim to operate? Would a giant electric fan be way more efficient?

[@WowCoolHorse]

where do you learn to fly one of these? it seems like a dream to me

[@sinfulldoubt]

I learned to fly helicopters in Colorado but as far as these Helicopters, it was on the job training.

[@GamingAmbienceLive]

Engine sounded like an old Soviet diesel truck

[@sinfulldoubt]

It was a pretty sweet sounding engine lol

[@chr70]

It is perfect without music - just the original sound! Thank you for sharing!

[@spacebogey1115]

yes sounds like a 1950s tractor

[@slartybarfastb3648]

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.

[@dziarskilisek]

Spróbuj go obejrzeć z „Szczęśliwym synem” grającym w tle. Możesz sobie wyobrazić, że zrzuca Agenta Orange na drzewa. kzbin.info/www/bejne/m5STiX6edq2Fa6s

[@michaelmccarthy4615]

music always sucks no matter what kind.... no music ever.

[@m3photo726]

@@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.

[@JorgeAraujo97]

The most fascinating part is how you guys can understand each other in the radio.

[@runpny]

Years of practice.

[@kizzjd9578]

You should be anticipating the readback

[@kiwidiesel]

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.

[@Shot5hells]

Hey, you're in NZ too! What kinda work do you do as a pilot?

[@dicksonkidd6144]

Great video

[@davestruiksma4574]

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.

[@Burnedtoastify]

Very cool. I can't even imagine the anxiety of flying one of these into a combat zone. Those guys were a special breed!

[@fourseasons2349]

@@Burnedtoastify oh yeah..lots of ops with HMM-363 and 364...

[@HighCountryRambler]

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?

[@Al_Dente-d1p]

Airline's with an apostrophe??? Wowwwwww

[@peterschena8486]

@@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

[@Stepclimb]

Thank you, Thank you for not putting music in this video! The natural sounds from this helicopter are music in itself.

[@BeeKayDadaphil]

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]

No problem, glad you saw this one lol. You still thinking about making an S58 sim?

[@BeeKayDadaphil]

@@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: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qJXKYZyhiZ1naas and another video from Rotor Sim Pilot is this one: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rH6Wn56fgKuqidU Still some work to do but atm I'm busy with other projects. Have fun and many happy landings.

[@ponkkaa]

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.

[@sinfulldoubt]

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

[@FN_FAL_4_ever]

@@sinfulldoubt how on Earth do you guys find spares for those R-1820s? Those are 1820s, right?

[@CMDRSweeper]

@@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.

[@congoparrot]

no adult should ever ever say "i was today years old"

[@ponkkaa]

@@congoparrot 🤣🤣🤣

[@Leif_YT]

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 :)

[@josefstalin4532]

Highly doubt a piston helicopter is very reliable... Those things will kill you...

[@sinfulldoubt]

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

[@lukesylvester2022]

the beginning sound makes this 100 times better

[@OverKillPlusOne]

@@sinfulldoubt it sounds like a lawn tractor for sure! :)

[@bluemarshall6180]

​@@OverKillPlusOne Piston engine.

[@JayMaverick]

Radio: *static, noise, gibberish, squeaks and squeals* Pilot: Roger that, loud and clear.

[@tonyrobbins1665]

😅😂😅😂

[@jackcook6644]

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!

[@sinfulldoubt]

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.

[@oisiaa]

This is 100% a "Flying Machine". No other word describes this amazing box of bolts.

[@bigal1863]

I'm not sure it really flies, my theory is it is so ugly that the Earth is repelling it! 😉

[@FlightX101]

Yep theres planes ,Helis,.... and then there are flying machines. This is one of them :)

[@RS250Squid]

I decided to nickname this one The Millennium Falcon. She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts XD.

[@DNHarris]

A helicopter is a collection of metal and bolts trying to fly out in all directions held together by money and love.

[@FarmerDrew]

​@@bigal1863😂😂

[@stuartburgess2409]

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 👍

[@ianmedium]

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👍

[@blakebuchanan1420]

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

[@signorpippistrello]

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.

[@FourthWayRanch]

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,

[@nomadmarine0331]

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.

[@josephvalle9178]

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 # 👍🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

[@nicknicholson2465]

I was there in 68 and 69 and I have to say helicopter pilots had balls of pure steel

[@danehampe2972]

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

[@sinfulldoubt]

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

[@loganjenkins5597]

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.

[@Rocketman88002]

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.

[@grendul4497]

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!

[@DJSkyhawk85]

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. 👍🏻

[@sinfulldoubt]

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

[@CodeRed001]

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.

[@chrisbeber9177]

Where do you live?

[@davidallyn1818]

proving that it doesn't take a turbine to fly big. I love that you have to prime the oil - that's awesome!! BTW, does that ole bird have a governor or are you working the throttle manually? Also, everyone needs to turn their gain down on their radios - whew that's an ear full of distortion.

[@busteraycan]

I think the gain issue is coming from the recorder. I don't think that was what the pilot was hearing in his headphones. At least that's what I'm telling my left as a novice pilot because I couldn't understand shit.

[@sinfulldoubt]

Yeah it sounded much clearer in the aircraft. They are all manual throttle though so they keep you busy constantly fine tuning the throttle.

[@trains4one]

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.

[@rogertycholiz2218]

Steve ~ Those round engines are music to my ears. Rough at start-up, but purr like a kitten at operating RPM.

[@Trve_Kvlt]

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.

[@ftargr]

all fun and games until charlie pops out of the bush

[@tonyrobbins1665]

😅😂😅😂

[@tonyrobbins1665]

I laughed hard !

[@shakim1298]

Great stuff, thanks! Now halos are officially wind making machines 😀

[@royurick]

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.

[@tomdelvetto9906]

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

[@sinfulldoubt]

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

[@mmoradiointeractive]

Either those guys are using mic's from 1941 or the sound pickup on the headset is hell on earth. As for the bird? BEAUTIFUL noise. Until the radio messed it all up

[@rogertycholiz2218]

MMO Radio ~ BEAUTIFUL sound! It's amazing how these complex engines with master and slave rods ran so smoothly.

[@TheHatMusic]

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.

[@sinfulldoubt]

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.

[@av8tor261]

No wonder cherries cost so much...LOL. Great video from a S-58T engineer.

[@billvs6505]

Touch everything as you check and verify the gauges - love it!

[@Kefmans]

Never knew until now that I want to be a cherry dryer as well! Cool job!

[@easygoing2479]

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.

[@dennislyons3095]

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!

[@rob737700]

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.

[@casual9982]

Very cool video. Nice to see old helo's like this still putting in work! Gotta say, your job looks pretty fun🚁😎

[@Flightstar]

Our Museum has a 55 and we wanna pull the Pratt off it. I read it can be done with out a lift or a hoist. We got the dolly that the whole engine assembly can be bolted to. Any pilots, mechanics familiar with the procedure?

[@sinfulldoubt]

I'll have to ask one of my buddies that flew the 55s. In the 58, we had to use a forklift. You unbolt the top engine mounts, then basically pivot the engine downwards until it's sitting on the stand.

[@mattd1188]

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. 🙂

[@patman0250]

Dude how can anybody hear those radio calls. I may be heard a zero and nothing but static and muffle. Like if I had to rely solely on radio calls to get me through a situation I'd be dead immediately.

[@albertusdrostable]

These machines are stunning! I am a little surprised how little radio communications have progressed in the past thirty to fourty years...How do you deal with that? But all in all a wonderful video!!!

[@sinfulldoubt]

It definitely sounded better in person lol but my radio definitely sucked in that ship. I tried getting a new one but didn't have any luck

[@thomasmaughan4798]

The choices are dictated largely by how many old AM radios exist in the VHF band (122.800 MHz for instance) but a useful feature of AM is that if more than one person is talking, you can actually hear them both or all provided one's transmitter isn't overwhelmingly more powerful. You'll also get a squeal if they aren't exactly on frequency. But with FM, there's a "capture effect" and the stronger signal completely masks everything else and you might miss (you WILL miss) that someone else just made a probably important announcement

[@tonyrobbins1665]

I love this stuff ! The anticipation of the start-up is just as exciting as the actual flight! Sincerely, from an old military kid

[@sinfulldoubt]

Well stay tuned. I'm working on a startup video for the S-58T right now

[@tonyrobbins1665]

@@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 🫡

[@mentatassassan]

I've never seen so many S-58's in one location. How many do you have? Are they all piston powered or some turbines?

[@sinfulldoubt]

I think they had 12 and all of them are radial engine

[@mrfingers4737]

Probably scavenging parts off the worst to keep the best ones flying.

[@valuedhumanoid6574]

So nice to see old birds still working. The static and interference of the radios is a bit concerning. Is it a lack of shielding or a ground issue? A lot of noise on some of the transmitters. Maybe that's just the nature of the beast. Anyways, if I was a cherry, I would be proud to be dried off by you.

[@sinfulldoubt]

Lol well thank you! The radios really weren't all that bad in the aircraft though. They were fuzzy but not as bad as the GoPro cable made it seem. I'm not too sure what it was, but it could be a grounding issue or possibly just an issue with line of sight or the less than quality radios that the ground crews use while they like to sit under the helicopter lol.

[@bmatt2626]

@@sinfulldoubt Line-In vs Mic-In maybe? I used a cheap splitter to feed Piper comms to a pocket voice recorder and it sounded similarly distorted. With a cable that lowers line voltage to mic voltage it sounds fine. They're overpriced, but it's just splicing a couple resistors and a capacitor onto a normal cable for DIY.

[@uploadJ]

B Matt has the answer below. Most ppl plug "line" level outputs in "mic" level inputs and until the slow acting AGC in the GoPro reacts the audio is distorted. Audio engineer here BTW.

[@experimental_av]

very cool to see those birds still flying. do you happen to know how they compare to modern turbine copter in cost per hour? looks like a good work horse.

[@patlevv7382]

UNABLE to answer specifically. **ALL 🚁flight expensive, relatively. ...THAT bird is ANCIENT\EXOTIC. ...so parts-&-maintenance. WILL kill u

[@davidjma7226]

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

[@vumba1331]

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.

[@AlexxanderOnYoutube]

until the end i was hoping you mispelled drying, meaning spraying.... spending so much money and resouree just to make wind for cherry trees, that's incredible

[@sinfulldoubt]

😂 such a weird job to get started in the industry but I definitely had fun doing it.

[@johnpnelson1]

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.

[@wallochdm1]

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.

[@sphinxattrasic4608]

"Beating the air into submission" 15T here

[@AFowkingPanda]

Pretty cool to see Sikorsky s-58's still flying!

[@stevelaminack1516]

I hope you are hearing the coms better than we hear in the video. Where is this OR, WA?

[@sinfulldoubt]

Yeah they sounded better to me than the GoPro was picking up. We're in Washington.

[@Maverickib]

Cool to see this bird fly. Is there a particular reason why this is the aircraft your employer uses for the job? Seems like a very fuel/oil thirsty machine and maintenance likely isn't kind on the wallet either. Figure a more modern helicopter (but not brand new) would be better suited for a relatively simple task like this, unless theres something I'm missing.

[@sethenewman4309]

Maybe because they had these on hand and buying new ones wouldn’t be worth it?

[@Maverickib]

@@sethenewman4309 Definitely possible. But it is very common with old helicopters for them to get more expensive to maintain than they're worth, often cheaper to just replace it. I can't imagine the radials in these old Sikorsky birds being cheap to overhaul, could probably buy a fixed wing aircraft for the price of it.

[@ianmangham4570]

@@Maverickib There's twelve of them at this place

[@its4michael]

Heavy and large rotating disk. Light choppers are not as effective for this rotor wash technique. Little choppers also don't have the fuel load to spend time in the field. They are actually blowing off the water droplets from the fruit so they don't burst or go rotten this close to harvesting.

[@moosesnWoop]

15:24 how would ANYONE decipher wtf is being said over the radio. It'd be saying "Repeat" "Repeat" "REPEAT YOUR LAST MESSAGE" Really need to have a talent for radio comms hahaha

[@androidemulator6952]

Fascinating to see how the old radial engine startup. I didnt know cherry drying was a thing. :) What year is the helo- 1950s??

[@sinfulldoubt]

Yeah I didn't either until I was applying for the job. Yeah it's the R-1820 so same engine as the B17. Mine was built in February of 1957.

[@markdudley3831]

@@sinfulldoubt ..... good year & good month ... wonder what day it was born ? Mines on the 5th ....