Rotorcraft Report: Rotary-Wing Gives Fixed Ones A Green Lift in California

COMMERCIAL | HEAVY LIFT

Columbia Helicopters in late June used one of its Model 234 Chinooks to give the wings of a Boeing 747 a lift.

Columbia lifted four sections of wings from Ventura County, Calif.’s Camarillo Airport and carried them about 12 mi to Malibu, Calif. The wings make up sections of the roof of the "green" home under construction there.

The wing sections were too large to be trucked to the building site, and dismantling them further was not considered practical. The two root sections of the wings weigh 18,000 lb each; the outboard sections weigh 11,000 lb each. The 234 can carry 28,000 lb.

Information about the house is at www.syndesisinc.com, the Web site of designer David Hertz Architects.