Tower sections to a ridgeline site, Far North
Six lattice sections and a headframe flown to a 780 m ridge where the access track had washed out.
The constraint
The service track had two washouts, one 9 m deep, after a monsoon trough.
Rebuilding the track for crane access required earthworks approvals in a World Heritage buffer.
The site carried emergency services traffic and could not stay off air past a fortnight.
The lift
- Load weight
- 980 kg
- Aircraft
- Airbus H125
- Line length
- 40 m
- Crew
- 6
- Exclusion zone
- 50 m
- Lift cycles
- 9
01Loads were staged on a cleared pad at the base of the range, 6.8 km from the summit.
02Sections flew in erection order so the rigging crew never handled a load twice.
03Cloud base was tracked hourly; the day was flown in two windows either side of orographic build-up.
04Headframe went last, bolted up the same afternoon.
The numbers
- Time on site
- 3.2 hrs
- Flight time
- 2.4 hrs
- Crane alternative
- Track reinstatement $210,000 + 5 weeks
- Road closures
- 0
On site
Client record
“The alternative was five weeks of earthworks. We were back on air inside a fortnight.”