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Silly question regarding R44 ground handling


RagMan

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My boss got approved for a new spot to take off and land his R44 for giving tours. We're moving from a parking lot to a grass field with hard soil. The idea is to first see how we do in business and attention since the aircraft will then be sitting next to an offramp on the said grass field. We hope to see a good increase in customers with the more visible spot the aircraft will be at.

 

As of right now in the parking lot, we use some third party oversize r44 handling wheels which is perfect for one individual to move the aircraft around by him or herself. We keep the helicopter under a huge tent like setup overnight, but then roll it out to the pad in the morning. This will essentially be the same concept once we get the aircraft over to the grass strip.

 

The movement operation though is more than likely going to have to be two-man, and then some, due to the terrain even though it is a hard soil grass strip.

 

Im curious what anyone might recommend to help ease this process of moving the helicopter around the grass field until we can get a concrete pad put into place. Dually wheels, maybe a small battery/gas operated tug, etc? Just looking for ideas or input. The boss wants to be sure the new location is going to see an influx in customers before he commits the $$$ to building up a nice pad and whatnot. I believe, with no question, that we'll have a greater volume of traffic and be 300% more visible, to the public, than where we are now.

 

Chime in at will

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What about pulling it with a lawn tractor or a golf cart? We used to pull one around with a golf cart a few years ago. We had something made that connects to that little ball under the nose which basically lifted the nose off the ground. It has a handle and a wheel on it so with the ground handling wheels it made moving the 44 a very easy one man operation.

 

For long moves (and sometimes pure laziness) we just put the wheel on the back of the golf cart and pulled it with that.

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This is what we use Marc, and have for six years now. We have moved many helicopters with this unit including a few AStars, Enstroms, 500s, 300s, R22, 44, 66. We even moved a 500c on a rolling cart... we had to push that one a bit, but it did the job. Works fine in the snow too. You can even get a GPU add-on that works great.

 

 

 

http://www.helitowcart.com/towcarts/light

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What about pulling it with a lawn tractor or a golf cart? We used to pull one around with a golf cart a few years ago. We had something made that connects to that little ball under the nose which basically lifted the nose off the ground. It has a handle and a wheel on it so with the ground handling wheels it made moving the 44 a very easy one man operation.

 

For long moves (and sometimes pure laziness) we just put the wheel on the back of the golf cart and pulled it with that.

 

Well we do have a golf kart at our disposal, but we'd need to rig up some kind of a hitch to the front. And we have one of those manual pushing wheel units that hooks up to the ball underneath the nose. That may just end up being the cheapest avenue to help save money.

 

 

Start the first flight of the day from the pavement and then land on the grass. End the last flight of the day back on the pavement……

 

 

Sure Spike, if my boss wasn't such a penny pincher!

 

 

This is what we use Marc, and have for six years now. We have moved many helicopters with this unit including a few AStars, Enstroms, 500s, 300s, R22, 44, 66. We even moved a 500c on a rolling cart... we had to push that one a bit, but it did the job. Works fine in the snow too. You can even get a GPU add-on that works great.

 

 

 

http://www.helitowcart.com/towcarts/light

 

 

Not a bad setup, really. Seems like a well thought out design. Quality is the first thing that comes to mind just looking at it. Though with the bosses budget, he'll want to keep things on the cheap side.

 

The golf kart idea will probably be our best bet, and least expensive, so long as we can rig up the connection to the ground handling point on the helicopter.

 

Thanks for the info fellas.

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Sure Spike, if my boss wasn't such a penny pincher!

 

The first flight would be a revenue flight, as well as the last flight. How does your penny pinching boss think that will cost him money? A tug, golf cart, dolly and any other transporting device will definitely cost him money and not only to purchase, but to maintain (long term) as well. Even if you repositioned the machine twice a day you’d come out ahead in the long run. Want examples; we recently replaced the wood deck on our dollies and it cost us $1500. That after the original 5K we spent purchasing it. I also recently purchased a golf cart for $2500 for my personal use. In runs on gas so guess what, that costs money. Batteries for a tug or golf cart cost a ton. Plus, these devices cause expensive “hangar rash” which is unpreventable. Mark-my-words, simply repositioning the machine is the most cost effective thing you can do…….

Edited by Spike
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