skycrane

English

Sikorsky Skycrane carrying a Chinook

Etymology

From sky +‎ crane.

Noun

skycrane (plural skycranes)

1. A helicopter that is used for hauling large loads.
   • 1970 March, Frank B. Case, “Contingencies, Container Ships, and Lighterage”, in Army Logistician, volume 2, page 21:

     The SHEDS exercise, conducted by American Export Isbrandtsen and Sikorsky in 1967, demonstrated that skycranes can unload containers, within the load limits of the helicopters, from a ship’s deck in weather which makes surface operations impossible.

   • 1984, Thomas A. York, “Construction and Maintenance of Delta Creek Airstrip”, in Engineer, volume 14, number 4, page 35:

     Bad weather, damaged multileg slings, and limited weekend availability for National Guard skycranes caused planning problems.

   • 1999, John Sherman, Sherman Exposed: Slightly Censored Climbing Stories, The Mountaineers Books:

     For the cost of those exploits, Bass could easily rent a couple of skycranes and airlift Hueco Tank’s famous Mushroom Boulder to Louisiana.

   • 2007, K[eshava] C[handa] Arora, Vikas V. Shinde, Aspects of Materials Handling, Laxmi Publications, →ISBN, page 55:

     Helicopter skycranes offer several advantages over conventional cranes. […] Large skycranes are often used in the lumber business to lift large trees out of terrain that is too rugged for a ground-based vehicle.

   • 2015, David Lindenmayer, David Blair, Lachlan McBurney, Sam Banks, Mountain Ash: Fire, Logging and the Future of Victoria’s Giant Forests, CSIRO Publishing, →ISBN, page 28:

     Perhaps a more important question is whether the large amount of money associated with establishing and then continuing to maintain firebreaks might have been better spent on other options for fighting fires such as more skycranes, rapid response units or other kinds of equipment.

   • 2016, Conrad M. Leighton, War Stories: A GI Reporter in Vietnam, 1970-1971, McFarland & Company, →ISBN, page 292:

     Only two skycranes came in hauling tractors and we aren’t allowed to get rides on them.

   • 2020, NASA, Entry, Descent, and Landing‎^[1]:

     As the [ Perseverance Rover ] descent stage levels out and slows to its final descent speed of about 1.7 miles per hour (2.7 kilometers per hour), it initiates the “skycrane” maneuver.