Sikorsky S-64 Skycrane

"Skycrane" redirects here. For the similarly named Flying Crane, see Hughes XH-17.

"Skycrane" redirects here. For the Mars landing mechanism, see Mars Science Laboratory § Sky crane landing.

S-64 Skycrane / Aircrane

Erickson S-64E, Elvis
Role	Aerial crane
Manufacturer	Sikorsky Aircraft Erickson Air-Crane
Designer	Igor Sikorsky
First flight	9 May 1962
Status	Active
Primary user	Erickson Air-Crane
Number built	about 110
Developed from	CH-54 Tarhe

The Sikorsky S-64 Skycrane is an American twin-engine heavy-lift helicopter. It is the civil version of the United States Army's CH-54 Tarhe. The S-64 Aircrane is the current production version, manufactured by the Erickson Air-Crane company.

Development

An Erickson Air-Crane S-64

Under Sikorsky

The Sikorsky S-64 was designed as an enlarged version of the prototype flying crane helicopter, the Sikorsky S-60. The S-64 had a six-blade main rotor and was powered by two 4,050 shaft horsepower (3,020 kW) Pratt & Whitney JFTD12A turboshaft engines. The prototype S-64 first flew on 9 May 1962 and was followed by two further examples for evaluation by the German armed forces.^[1] The Germans did not place an order, but the United States Army placed an initial order for six S-64A helicopters (with the designation YCH-54A Tarhe). Seven S-64E variants were built by Sikorsky for the civil market.

Under Erickson

Originally a Sikorsky Aircraft product, the type certificate and manufacturing rights were purchased from them by Erickson Air-Crane in 1992.

Since that time, Erickson Air-Crane has become the manufacturer and world's largest operator of S-64 Aircranes and has made over 1,350 changes to the airframe, instrumentation, and payload capabilities of the helicopter. The Aircrane can be fitted with a 2,650-gallon (~10,000 litre) fixed retardant tank to assist in the control of bush fires, and it has proved itself admirably in this role.

S-64 Aircranes have been sold to the Italian and Korean Forest Services for fire suppression and emergency response duties. Those in the Erickson Air-Crane fleet are leased worldwide to organizations, companies, and Federal Government agencies for either short-term or longer term use in fire suppression, civil protection, heavy lift construction, and timber harvesting.

Erickson is manufacturing new S-64s, as well as remanufacturing existing CH-54s. Erickson gives each of its S-64s an individual name, the best-known being "Elvis", used in fighting fires in Australia alongside "The Incredible Hulk" and "Isabelle". Other operators, such as Siller Brothers, have followed with their Sikorsky S-64E, Andy's Pride. The Erickson S-64E nicknamed "Olga" was used to lift the top section of the CN Tower into place in Toronto, Canada.

Variants

Sikorsky Skycrane

S-64 dropping water on the Ahorn Fire in Montana, September 2007. USFS photo

Italian Forest Service S-64F on display at the 2005 HAI HeliExpo

Erickson S-64, refueling at McNary Field, Salem, Oregon

"Shania" (N720HT) dumping water at Mt Kuring-gai near Sydney in April 2007

S-64E Erickson Air-Crane, Delilah (N194AC) at Ioannina airport, Greece

Sikorsky installing monopole in Langkawi, Malaysia

S-64: Twin-engined heavy-lift helicopter, 3 built.
S-64A: Six test and evaluation helicopters for the US Army.

S-64B: Civil version of CH-54A, 7 built.

Erickson Aircrane

S-64E: Upgraded & certified CH-54A helicopters, plus one new build aircraft.
S-64F: Upgraded & certified CH-54B helicopters. Powered by two Pratt & Whitney JFTD12-5A engines.

Operators

Italy

Corpo Forestale dello Stato^[2]

South Korea

Korea Forest Service^[3]^[4]

United States

Columbia Helicopters^[5]
Erickson Air-Crane^[6]
Evergreen Helicopters, Inc.^[7]
Helicopter Transport Services^[8]
Los Angeles City Fire Department (contracted by Erickson Air-Crane)^[9]^[10]
Los Angeles County Fire Department (contracted by Erickson Air-Crane)^[11]
San Diego Gas and Electric (contracted by Erickson Air-Crane)^[12]
Siller Helicopters^[13]

Incidents

N189AC "Gypsy Lady" – crashed in Ojai, California on October 1, 2006. While operating for the USFS The Erickson S-64 snagged a dip tank and the helicopter rolled over and crashed.^[14]
N198AC "Shirley Jean" – S-64F; sold to European Air-Crane c.2006 as I-SEAD; crashed in Italy on 2007-04-26.^[15] Aircraft was destroyed in a post-crash fire.^[16]
N248AC "Aurora" – S-64E; named after Aurora State Airport. Home to Columbia Helicopters, former owner of aircraft.^[5] Crashed on 26 August 2004 in Corsica, killing its Canadian pilot and French co-pilot. The Air-Crane was chartered by the interior ministry to fight fires on the French Mediterranean island of Corsica. It had been fighting a fire and it went down near the village of Ventiseri as it was trying to return to a nearby military base because of a technical problem due to inflight breakup.^[17]^[18]

Specifications (S-64E)

Data from The International Directory of Civil Aircraft^[19]

General characteristics

Crew: 3 (pilot, co-pilot), plus one engineer or rear-facing observer
Capacity: up to 5 total persons
Payload: 20,000 lb (9,072 kg)
Length: 70 ft 3 in (21.41 m (fuselage))
Rotor diameter: 72 ft 0 in (21.95 m)
Height: 18 ft 7 in (5.67 m)
Disc area: 4070 ft² (378.1 m²)
Empty weight: 19,234 lb (8,724 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 42,000 lb (19,050 kg)
Powerplant: 2 × Pratt & Whitney JFTD12-4A (T73-P-1) turboshaft engines, 4,500 shp (3,555 kW) each

Performance

Maximum speed: 109 knots (126 mph, 203 km/h)
Cruise speed: 91 knots (105 mph, 169 km/h)
Range: 200 nmi (230 mi, 370 km) max fuel and reserves
Rate of climb: 1,330 ft/min (6.75 m/s)

References

↑ Jackson, Paul (1976). German Military Aviation 1956–1976. Midland Counties Publications. ISBN 0-904597-03-2.
↑ "Corpo Forestale dello Stato Elicottero S 64 F". Retrieved 26 January 2013.
↑ "Korea Forest Service S-64". Retrieved 17 March 2013.
↑ "KFS Sikorsky S-64E Skycrane". Demand media. Retrieved 26 January 2013.
1 2 "Helispot photo". Helispot.com. Retrieved 2010-12-20.
↑ "the origins of Erickson Air-Crane". Erickson Air-Crane, Inc. 2013. Retrieved 26 January 2013.
↑ "Evergreen S-64 spec. sheet" (PDF). evergreenaviation.com. Retrieved 26 January 2013.
↑ "HTS Fleet". htshelicopters.com. Retrieved 26 January 2013.
↑ "S-64 Aircranes for L.A.?". ainonline.com. Retrieved 17 March 2013.
↑ "LAFD S-64". emergencyrigs.net. Retrieved 26 January 2013.
↑ "L.A. County S-64". finance.yahoo.com. Retrieved 17 March 2013.
↑ "Erickson Air-Crane buys Sun Bird aircraft from San Diego Gas & Electric". Helihub.com. Retrieved 26 January 2013.
↑ "Siller Fleet". sillerhelicopters.com. Retrieved 20 September 2013.
↑ "NTSB report (LAX07TA001)". Ntsb.gov. Retrieved 2015-09-07.
↑ Helicopters area of dgualdo.it (report excerpts in Italian) Archived 28 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
↑ "NTSB report – NYC07WA152". Ntsb.gov. 26 April 2007. Archived from the original on 19 February 2009. Retrieved 2010-12-20.
↑ "NTSB report – WAS04WA012". Ntsb.gov. 26 August 2004. Archived from the original on 31 July 2010. Retrieved 2010-12-20.
↑ "NTSB probes Air-Crane crash – September 9, 2004". Archive.mailtribune.com. 9 September 2004. Retrieved 2010-12-20.
↑ Frawley, Gerard: The International Directiory of Civil Aircraft, 2003–2004, page 195. Aerospace Publications Pty Ltd, 2003. ISBN 1-875671-58-7

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sikorsky S-64 Skycrane.

External images
Line drawing of Skycrane

Sikorsky aircraft

Fixed-wing aircraft (company designations)	S-1 S-2 S-3 S-4 S-5 S-6 S-7 S-8 S-9 S-10 S-11 S-12 S-13 S-14 S-15 S-16 S-17 S-18 S-19 S-20 S-21 S-22 S-23 S-24 S-25 S-26 S-27 S-28 S-29-A S-30 S-31 S-32 S-33 S-34 S-35 S-36 S-37 S-38 S-39 S-40 S-41 S-42 S-43 VS-44 S-45

Fixed-wing aircraft (military designations)	C-6 C-28 JRS JR2S PS RS XBLR-3 XPBS XSS XV-2

Helicopters (company designations)	VS-300 (S-46) S-47 S-48 S-49 S-51 S-52 S-53 S-54 S-55 S-56 S-57 S-58 S-59 S-60 S-61 S-61L/N S-61R S-62 S-63 S-64 S-65 S-66 S-67 S-68 S-69 S-70 S-71 S-72 S-73 S-74 S-75 S-76 S-80 S-92/H-92 S-97 S-300 S-333 S-434

Helicopters (military designations)	SH-3 HH-3E/F R-4 H-5 H-6 H-18 H-19 H-34 CH-37 XH-39 HH-52A CH-53 CH-53E CH-53K CH-54 HH-60G HH-60J MH-60R/S SH-60B/F SH-60J/K UH-60 VH-60 RAH-66 CH-124 CH-148

Experimental aircraft	Cypher Cypher II Firefly X2 XBLR-3 XV-2

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