Air conditioning units on the roof of the Ergo building in Düsseldorf
It was an exciting morning for some Düsseldorf residents one recent Sunday. The reason for this was our helicopter team and our heavy load flight mission to the Ergo building. Two heavy air conditioning units were to be transported to the tall building in the city’s Pempelfort district.
The monumental Ergo building, also known as Victoria House, is one of the three tallest buildings in Düsseldorf and is therefore one of the landmarks of the city.
The two air conditioning units that needed to be transported onto the roof weighed 3.5 tonnes each and were about the size of a truck. Since a crane could not be used for this mission, there was only one solution: the load had to be transported by helicopter, which is why our client approached us for a heavy cargo flight.
Preparation
Due to the enormous weight of the two machines, only a twin-engine AS 332 Super Puma helicopter was suitable for the mission. Thanks to its high load-bearing capacity, this helicopter type is ideally suited for this type of mission. External loads of up to 4 tonnes can be transported on the Super Puma’s cargo hook.
In addition to choosing the appropriate helicopter, some important permits are required before carrying out a cargo flight in the city centre. Of course, we took care of obtaining of all the necessary permits. In addition to providing the helicopter, we also put together an experienced team, consisting of a pilot who specialises in heavy cargo flights and a ground crew.
Just like before every mission, our load experts conducted a site visit to get an overview of the area of operation. Thus, nothing stood in the way of a successful and safe flight mission.
A successful cargo flight in the best weather conditions
On the day of our flight mission everything went as planned. Due to the Ergo building’s city centre location, there was not enough space to land the helicopter, so the load rope was attached during the flight. Within a very short time, our pilot was able to successfully fly all the required parts onto the roof of the Ergo building. After just under 20 minutes, the cargo flight was complete, the load rope was unhooked and the pilot could begin his flight back to base.
Afterwards, our client was visibly delighted that the mission had gone so well. We are pleased that we were able to satisfy our client’s requirements and are sure that he will contact our cargo flight experts again if he needs a similar service in the future.