"[narrator] A new breed of super machine is evolving." "Bigger, faster, smarter, built to tackle near-impossible feats." "Among them: a revolutionary mega lift helicopter." "Yeehaw!" "[narrator] Flying massive loads through raging winds..." "There'snotmanyhelicopters that can do that." "[narrator]...overcoming obstacles that could down an ordinary helicopter..." "Ifanyoneofthose components fail, that tower's coming down on top of them." "[narrator]...and hauling 1,500 tons of steel to build a critical new power line." "Ihavethecontrols." "Yougotthecontrols." "Ihavethecontrols." "[narrator]...in a mission to push men and machine to the brink." "Keepflying,keepflying!" "Flyforward." "Holyáááá!" "[narration] Blowing this" "$25 million beast apart, we'll discover technological secrets thatvercome the impossible." "From ingenious stabilizers holding it steady in strong winds to twin jet engines with the power of 12 Formula One racing cars." "We'll reveal how this extraordinary mega lift helicopter evolved to rise above all other machines." "Due north of Montana lie" "Canada's Alberta Prairies." "Here, work is about to begin on an epic endeavour." "This army of men will wage battle against 40-mph winds to construct more than" "100 colossal steel towers, forming a vital link in a" "220-mile power line between 2 Alberta boom towns." "We'vebeenspendingthe last year prepping to this moment." "[narrator] Calling the shots, construction boss Jamie Capner." "This is the biggest project he's ever undertaken." "JAMIE CAPNER, Construction Boss," "RS Line:" "It's one of the biggest upgrades that Alberta will see, probably in my lifetime anyway." "[narration] Fuelled by oil," "Alberta is booming." "Its expanding population needs a power grid to match." "(beeping)" "To feed Calgary and Edmonton with more power, Alberta is building a massive $1.6 billion transmission line." "A critical section needs to bridge 60 miles of scrub and swampland." "Here, Jamie's crew will erect 121 giant electrical towers." "The power line must traverse terrain cut off from roads, a barren wilderness traditional construction cranes just can't cross." "The solution?" "A crane that flies." "It's a mega lift helicopter called an Air-Crane." "Crammed under super lightweight skin are 200,000 high-precision components." "The Air-Crane has a steel core strong enough to carry 5 SUVs." "Its twin jet engines blast out air at the heat of volcanic gas." "And its rotor blades spin at the speed of a cruising jet." "Together, these highly advanced features help this helicopter lift - and lug - extraordinary loads." "And this American mega lifter's got a nickname:" "Elvis." "He arrived this morning from Oregon, with his" "Top Gun flight crew." "Peoplearesurprisedwhen they first start flying it." "They think Elvis is going to fly like a school bus because it is so huge." "It's 98 feet long." "But it flies like a Ferrari." "[narration] Manning the controls, chief pilot" "Travis Harrold." "TRAVIS HARROLD, Chief Pilot," "Erickson Air-Crane:" "We like to say that the crane climbs like a homesick angel." "Because you put a load under it, and it will still outclimb most aircraft that are empty." "[narrator] Travis and his team of co-pilots will use Elvis to lift the giant towers, fly them to the drop zone and set them onto these foundations." "To stay on budget, they have just 8 days to accomplish their mission." "Theywantthispowerline up, and the faster they can get it up, the better." "The wind always blows in Alberta." "So we know we have our challenges ahead of us as far as the wind goes." "We'vegotroughly100 guys working for us today to kick this thing off." "We're going to get 120 towers done in about 8 days and hope for the best." "We'regoingto pushyou this next week." "We got 120 plus towers to do in a week." "You guys aren't going to be used to the pace." "Watch out for your buddy up the tower, watch out for people on the ground." "Be safe and go as hard as you can." "Let'sgetat herthen!" "[narration] It takes 3 pilots to fly Elvis." "Vic Johnson and Brad" "Warren have the front controls." "Travis mans this plexiglass bubble at the rear." "Designed for the toughest construction jobs, this is the world's only helicopter with an aft-facing pilot." "There'sprobablyonly 5 completely signed off aft seat construction pilots in the world that are capable of doing anything that we do." "[narration] First challenge:" "get the towers airborne." "Jamie's crew has assembled the structures in 2 halves along the length of the power line." "Now he needs the Air-Crane to haul the base sections into place, then drop the upper segments on top." "I'mjustmakingsureall our rigging is set up right so once we start lifting it's not going to get caught or bound up or hung up, potentially damaging something." "[narrator] Weighing 4.5 tons, base section number one was not designed to fly, but it's about to." "(Jamie):" "Air-Crane, you going to copy?" "(Brad):" "Hey, Jamie, crane's lifting in 10 seconds." "(Travis):" "Yes, sir, we're getting ready to roll." "It's going to be a beautiful day today." "(Vic):" "Aft seat's engaged?" "(Travis):" "Aft seat's engaged." "(Vic):" "Transponders on, clock's running." "(Travis):" "OK, I got it, Vic." "[narrator] Almost 10,000 HP blasts Elvis into the sky." "(whistling)" "Hey,guys!" "Getyourhooks up in the air." "[narrator] The hook-up crew has the most dangerous job, working right underneath the helicopter." "Ascrewupin thistrade is catastrophic, it's death." "[narrator] Hook-up crew boss" "Chad Hurd knows bone and flesh are no match for swinging steel." "CHAD HURD, Load Master, Erickson" "Air-Crane:" "If it falls from 50, 60, even 10 feet, it'll kill you instantly." "[narration] Flying helicopters at low heights and around tall structures is fraught with danger." "This pilot in New Zealand was hoisting a 7-story Christmas decoration into place when his cargo line got too near the rotor blades." "It was a close call." "But incredibly, no one was seriously injured." "Lookhowfasthe'sgoing!" "[narrator] The hook-up crew braces for a 50-mph wind from" "Elvis's enormous rotors." "SoI havethecontrols." "I'm just going to back the aircraft back up, come down here, lower the hooks into the hands of the ground crewmen." "(Chad): 80 off the deck." "ChadguidestheAir-Cranein, bringing the 4 huge metal hooks swinging within arm's reach of his crew." "60,40..." "Thisisthe probably the most dangerous part." "Youcanseethemkind of wobbling around." "There's a little bit of wind they're fighting against." "Keephercoming,Igotthe tail." "Keep her coming." "There's a lot of moving metal up above their heads." "It's a very critical time where somebody could get injured very easily." "Hold that." "[narrator] With the ground crew's safety in the palm of his hand, Travis needs much more precise control than any normal helicopter could hope to offer." "(man speaking indistinctly over PA)" "And he gets it, thanks to the 6 giant rotors." "These 36-foot-long blades are engineered for ultimate strength." "But their aluminium skin is less than half a millimetre thick." "To boost their lifting power, they use a trick from nature's very own helicopter." "Maple seeds evolved to fly far from their tree." "They've grown wings that catch them as they fall." "Air rushes over the thick angled edge, giving them lift." "On a good wind, they can fly for miles to put down new roots and spread their DNA." "The Air-Crane's rotors mimic this aerodynamic design to do the heavy lifting." "Their tips spin at 490 mph, as fast as a cruising jet plane." "The pilots can even change their angle of attack with minute precision to keep Elvis exactly where the ground crew needs him." "(Chad): 5, hold what you got." "All clear, easy up." "Good to go." "Startrollingthistowerup here." "We'll get to about the 45-degree angle here." "It's going to start to tip over." "We don't want to drag them, we don't want to bump them on anything." "They're actually very fragile." "Comebackup alittlebit." "[narrator] This tower base weighs 9,000 lb." "Right now, it's balancing on just two fragile legs." "If they fail, the whole structure will crash down onto the crew." "tor] N, in Canada's remote Alberta prairies, Jamie Capner's construction crew has just" "8 days to erect 121 electrical towers, forming a crucial" "60-mile stretch of a new power line." "EverythingOKthere?" "[narrator] To reach terrain land vehicles can't, they're using an" "Air-Crane, a revolutionary heavyweight helicopter." "Holdherback,holdherback." "[narrator] As the 9,000-lb base section pivots upright on" "2 fragile legs, the pressure is on chief pilot Travis." "The giant rotors whip up gale force winds, which blast the ground crew." "(Chad):" "Stiffeners are out, all clear." "Easy up, good to go." "Yeehaw!" "Yeah!" "We'regoingto headout  to the set site and we'll set this baby." "[narrator] Next challenge:" "a 3-mile dash to the first tower's set site." "JustracingtheAir-Crane." "Hopefully, we can get there before he does." "It's hard to keep up with." "[narrator] Boss Jamie is racing a helicopter that has 30 times more HP than his truck and drains the job's budget every second it's in the air." "It'scostingabout17,000an hour." "Break it down into about" "$5 a second." "Seconds actually do make the difference." "Yes,sir." "Bringiton." "Everybody just wants to get things going, get these first couple out." "[narrator] On the ground," "Dave Lillesve's job is single-handedly guide the 4.5-ton structure onto its foundation supports." "DAVE LILLESVE, Project Manager," "Erickson Air-Crane:" "They'll come down." "They'll come into the wind for the set and I'll be giving him elevations the whole way in." "(Brad):" "See Dave out in the field there?" "Ido,yes." "OK,you'recominginat40 ." "[narrator] The front seat pilots can't see the tower below them." "So they rely on Dave telling them the distance in feet, from the bottom of the base to the top of the foundation." "(Dave):" "There's 30, looking about 25." "OK,I havethecontrols." "Yougotit ." "[narrator] At 25 feet, the front pilots hand over control to" "Travis in his rear bubble." "(Dave): 10, 8, 6..." "Whenwegetdowntoonefoot, we want to be just drifting right over the top of the bananas." "[narrator] Travis must lower the tower's legs into these orange brackets, called bananas." "One false move could knock off these crucial connectors." "(Travis):" "I relate it to flying a piece of dental floss and trying to stick it through a needle." "[narrator] Precision docking is only possible because of the helicopter's revolutionary design." "Unlike the front pilots, whose view is restricted, rear pilot" "Travis has clear sight of the ground immediately below." "The Air-Crane is the only helicopter in the world with an aft-facing pilot." "Travis sits in a plexiglass bubble giving him a 180-degree window in the air." "It's an idea borrowed from the flying aces of days gone by, when early bombers had a fatal weakness." "The pilots couldn't see fighters sneaking up from behind." "So aircraft designers grafted on a rear-facing glass canopy with a gun inside." "Now the bomber crews could defend themselves, thanks to their eyes in the back." "The Air-Crane's plexiglass bubble gives the pilot maximum visibility and complete command." "Minute movements of the cyclic joystick send lightning fast signals through a fly-by-wire system." "They reach the rotor head and change the angle of the blades, manoeuvring Elvis into position with unparalleled precision." "(Travis):" "That's one of the neat aspects of the Air-Crane, is that we have total unrestricted view for 180 degrees." "(Dave):" "There's one foot." "You're inside, come on up a little bit." "2 feet, there's one foot." "Inches..." "You're trapped." "There you go!" "You got it, you got it." "And cut her free." "And 4 hooks clear." "(Jamie):" "Good catch, Trav." "[narrator] Tower Base I, down." "120 more to go." "Jamie's crew moves in to bolt the structure to its foundation as Elvis heads back to pick up base section number two." "(Brad):" "OK now, I'm looking for a hook crew, which I do not see." "(Travis):" "Chad's just right beside us." "(Chad):" "We're ready for you right here." "[narration] With his eagle eye in the sky, Travis spots the ground crew." "(Travis):" "OK, I got it, Vic." "[narrator] The key to his clear line of sight is Elvis's insect-like shape." "Buried inside the Air-Crane's slender spine is a central core made from magnesium alloy and steel." "It connects the massive rotor head directly to the cargo hook, transferring the weight of the load away from the body, keeping the rest of the frame super slim to give Travis a bird's eye view." "[narration] From 40 foot in the air, Travis spots the hooks are connected to the wrong cables." "If he lifts now, the tower could lurch into the ground crew." "(Travis):" "There are people standing right by those legs, knocking the stiffeners out." "If I'm out of position," "I'm going to hurt somebody." "[narration] Travis's unique vantage point averts disaster." "In this game of flying steel, no man can afford a lapse of concentration, even for a split second." "(Dave):" "OK, there's 15... there's 8, 2, 1, inches." "OK, we got a thumbs-up." "Slack off and cut her free." "[narration] Tower Base II, down." "With the clock ticking on their 8-day schedule, it's time to step up a gear." "Herewecome,cowboy." "It'sniceseeingtowersgoing out of the yard so smoothly." "(man speaking indistinctly over PA) [narration] With air and ground crews firing on all cylinders, they set 20 base sections in just 4 hours." "That'sawesome." "Goodjob,youguys." "[narration] But next, they must lift the top sections, twice the weight and twice the challenge." "Holylick!" "Thatwindis picking up on us." "[narrator] And Mother" "Nature's about to throw them a curve ball... (man on radio):" "Hello!" "(Travis):" "Keep flying!" "(Jamie):" "Holy áááá!" "(Travis):" "Keep flying!" "[narration] North of the" "US-Canadian border in Alberta, 100 men and one heavyweight helicopter are constructing" "121 steel towers to form a critical 60-mile link in a massive new power line." "Breakfastandlunchof champions." "This is pepperoni." "[narrator] 24 hours into their 8-day mission, they're under the gun to fly 20 tower tops onto the bases they set yesterday." "At 16,000 lb, these top sections are game changers." "To make matters even worse, at this time of year, gale force winds upwards of 50 mph can strike without warning." "Thewindis prettymuch at our threshold right now." "Chopper's good to fly in this kind of weather." "It's just the setting part that's really going to hit them." "(man on radio):" "OK, two's up." "Stable." "Ready one." "(Brad): 10, 11 ignition." "(Travis):" "I got it, Victor." "(Vic):" "You have the controls." "(Chad):" "Hey, you guys, just to let you know, give you a heads-up, the wind is just swirling down here in the yard, so your call." "OK,thanks." "[narration] With 90-foot long arms, this top section is now at the mercy of the building wind." "(Chad):" "Hold what you got." "The top of this thing is as wide as it is tall and all the weight is at the top of this." "If one side was to break loose, it could actually swing down and come up and hit the helicopter at that point in time because it's so wide." "All clear, easy up." "The 8-ton tower top weighs almost as much as the Air-Crane itself." "It'soneof theonly helicopters in the world that can carry its own weight." "It's like an ant!" "Ants carry their bodyweight." "[narrator] Hauling this beast into the air takes all of" "Elvis's raw engine power." "(Chad):" "All yours, good to go." "[narrator] Strapped to the" "Air-Crane's back is the power of 12 Formula One cars." "Turbine blades force 4,600 gallons of air into the engines every second, compressing it into the combustion chamber." "Here, it mixes with fuel and ignites." "These are jet-age engines, but their roots are in a medieval kitchen." "Roasting meat for a 16th-century feast was an exhausting task." "Until an inventor channelled the hot gases from the fire to spin a turbine and drive a system of cogs and gears." "This rotated the spit to cook a perfect roast powered by nothing but hot air." "The helicopter's engines blast out gases at 1,600 F, the heat of a volcano." "The gases rotate a turbine 9,000 times a minute, which drives the energy through a shaft into the transmission." "It turns the rotor mast, spinning the blades with the horsepower of 6 monster trucks, more than a match for lifting the 16,000-lb tower top." "(Travis):" "Tower is up and clear." "[narrator] Elvis's engines blast him towards the set site at 80 mph." "TwiceasfastIcango." "[narration] Dave needs to get ahead of the Air-Crane to guide the tower into place." "Shoot!" "Howdo youget there from here?" "[narration] But not all the temporary roads through the wilderness are marked..." "Itdoesn'tgo around!" "[narrator]...and Dave's losing the race against a helicopter built not just for lifting power, but also for speed." "At full throttle, Elvis burns almost 9 gallons of jet fuel a minute." "An automatic control unit designed like a Swiss watch feeds the gas hungry engines from 5 separate tanks." "If one runs low before another, the unbalanced weight will slow the helicopter." "So the control unit pumps kerosene from the tanks in perfect unison, keeping the Air-Crane balanced, even when the pilots push him to top speed." "(Travis):" "Oh, the ground crews are not liking us today." "It'sgotto be through the fly yard." "Right there." "[narrator] Dave spots the base and makes it by the skin of his teeth." "(man on radio):" "Three, two, one..." "Bringiton ." "(Travis):" "OK, I got it, Vic." "(Vic):" "You got it." "(Travis):" "Right a couple." "(Dave): 3, 2 feet, 2 feet, there's 1 foot." "(Travis):" "OK, I have it." "(Dave):" "Inches." "You're trapped." "Come on down with it, come on down, give me the weight." "Come on up a little bit, inside." "[narrator] At the critical moment, the wind kicks up a gear, swinging the tower from Travis's control." "(man on radio):" "No, no, one side's got to come down here." "(Dave):" "You knocked that banana off." "[narration] Blasted sideways, the tower knocks off one of the bananas, a crucial connector that would lock to the base." "Ah,youjustlost another one." "Theregoesallthe bananas." "There's virtually no way we're going to set this structure, so let's abort this one." "[narrator] There's now no way to lock the tower together." "With men on the ground, Travis can't let 8 tons of steel fall." "A mile away, at the pick up site, boss Jamie hears the bad news." "He'sgotno otherchoice but to bring it back to the yard here." "(censor beep) [narrator] Now the crew must wrestle this behemoth to the ground, something it was never designed to do." "and take it back to the yard." "(Chad):" "OK, roger that." "[narrator] North of Montana, in Alberta, Canada, sudden high winds force the heavyweight helicopter to abort its mission of setting this tower top onto its base." "Looksliketheyhad trouble with that one." "[narration] Chief pilot Travis and copilots Vic and Brad race to get 8 tons of steel safely into the hands of the ground crew before the Air-Crane runs out of fuel." "(Travis):" "Aborting a structure is the last thing that we want to do, short of running out of fuel." "It'squitedifficult to lay one down, especially if there's a bit of an incline like there is here." "[narrator] To land the structure, they will have to lay it on its side, a manoeuvre it's simply not designed for." "(Chad): 3, 2, hold that right there." "There'sdefinitelyadanger to it." "He's got to hover for about 2 or 3 minutes with it while they stick the stiffeners back in." "(Chad):" "Four." "Hold it right there, Travis." "[narrator] There's a danger the tower's slender legs will crumple as it's lowered, and Chad's men are working right underneath it." "Wegotahandfulofguys underneath 16,000 lb of steel and another 20,000 lb of machine." "If any one of those components fail, that tower's coming down on top off them." "(Chad):" "OK, Travis we've got the stiffeners in, we're holding them right now." "Come on down easy." "[narrator] With Elvis's engines at full thrust, he's burning fuel fast and blasting the ground crew with a hurricane force downwash of 90 mph." "Looksliketheguysare having trouble fighting that downwash right now." "(Chad): 10, 8, 5, 3, 2, 1." "You're at inches, inches." "You're on the deck." "[narrator] The danger's not over yet." "The Air-Crane is still anchored to the stricken tower." "The whole crew's safety now relies on the 4 ingenious cargo hooks." "Each hook can hold over 6,000 lb, and they must release their load in exact unison." "This precision engineering mimics the vice-like grip of an airborne mammal." "Bats have evolved a unique way of sleeping." "As it comes in to roost, the bat's own bodyweight causes a ratchet-like tendon in the claws to lock a talon around the perch." "The talons allow the bat to sleep safely, using almost no energy." "The Air-Crane's claw-like hooks also lock completely shut despite the weight of a load." "A signal from the cockpit rotates a magnet inside each hook, which releases a hammer and opens the claw." "It's critical all 4 hooks release exactly when Travis commands to give Elvis a safe exit from the danger zone." "(Chad):" "Four hooks clear." "Nice job, Travis." "(Travis):" "Nice job, everybody." "He'sonlygotsomuch fuel so if he would have hovered and the guys couldn't have got stiffeners in fast enough, he probably would have just laid it down and destroyed the tower, or worst case scenario," "just punched it loose." "[narration] Luckily for the men on the ground and in the air, the hooks did their job." "(Travis):" "Those hooks, it's pretty critical that they all open at the same time." "[narration] Should the hooks fail to open, Travis has a last ditch solution at his fingertips." "Buried inside the Air-Crane's spine is the pilots' emergency life insurance: a tiny cartridge known as a squib." "It's packed with explosives." "At the push of a button, the explosive force drives a guillotine blade right through the thick steel cable, jettisoning any load." "(Travis):" "I call the squib my "get out of jail" free card." "Oh God, I hope I never have to use that thing." "[narration] Elvis finally makes a pit stop." "It's a chance for the crew to regroup." "Thatwasalittlebitwild for us." "We don't like to see things get out of control that far." "BRAD WARREN, Pilot, Erickson" "Air-Crane:" "We're just parking for a bit, taking a break and letting the wind die off." "[narration] Only 2 days into their 8-day mission and already delayed, waiting is not a game boss Jamie can afford to play." "We'refallingbehindschedule and losing money pretty much every second that it's not flying." "[narrator] Elvis grounded, there's only one team still at work." "OK,Steve,yougot engine;" "Jake, attic." "[narrator] Clocking in 600 hours' flight time a year, it's vital the mechanics keep their machine in perfect working order." "STEVE LAVOIE, mechanic, Erickson" "Air-Crane:" "Basically, we're trying to find where Elvis is telling us, "Hey, I'm a little weak here."" "[narration] To help the mechanics find weak spots," "Elvis has a clever way to communicate built right inside his rotor blades." "Under their skin lies a cunning crack detector." "The inside of each hollow blade is pumped full of high-pressure nitrogen." "This gas pushes out the piston on a pressure gauge." "Any loss of nitrogen, and the indicator slides inwards, warning the crew of even the tiniest cracks." "The mechanics' priority is keeping Elvis in top shape, and construction boss Jamie's number one concern is getting him back up in the air." "Hey,Dave,yougot acopy ?" "[narrator] But not before they assess the wind." "Yougotawindspeedcheck ?" "Thatismilesper hour." "Milesperhour,yup ." "She's gusting up to 42.3." "OK." "Wow,that'snot going to be good." "[narration] Handling 8 tons of swinging steel in 40-mph gusts is too dangerous for the men on the ground." "It's time to break the news to Jamie." "(Dave):" "Yeah, we got gusts over 40 right now and it's pretty high." "(censor beeps)" "We'redownforthe day ." "(censor beep) [narrator] Deep in Canada's" "Alberta Prairies, a major new power line emerges from the wilderness." "Battling building winds, Jamie's crew is now 5 days into their 8-day mission to assemble" "121 giant electrical towers." "70 down, 51 to go." "It's a huge challenge." "Thewinddefinitelymakesus work a lot harder." "These structures, as you can probably see, with the wind on them, it twists them and turns them, and pushes them back." "(both):" "Yes." "[narrator] Today's forecast is ominous." "No one knows what the wind is going to do." "To kick off, chief pilot Travis moves into the front seat and co-pilot Brad takes control of the rear bubble." "Youreadyto go or areyou  going to hold, or what?" "(Brad):" "I think Jamie was ready, wasn't he?" "(Travis):" "Yup, I think we're going to go." "(Brad):" "I think we're ready." "(mooing)" "Ah... (censor beep)" "Looks like we have cattle in the heli yard." "That's going to put a stop to us." "(Brad):" "We're ready." "[narrator] Just as they are set for takeoff, a herd of cattle wanders in amongst the towers" "Elvis is about to lift." "Gottogetthemover tothis side of the fence apparently." "Hip!" "(whistling)" "Come on, cows!" "In,Terry!" "[narration] Jamie rounds up fellow ground crew Terry and" "Dave to herd the cows off the field." "Pushthemthisway ." "Aaah!" "Turnaround,you'regoing the wrong way." "Thisway,Terry,thisway." "Just keep them on this side." "You can pretty much tell Terry's never worked with cattle before." "[narration] But country boy" "Jamie soon whips his rookie cowboys into shape." "Clap,clap,clap!" "That's it, that's it." "Woah,woah,woah!" "Hey !" "[narrator] The herd moves on in the nick of time." "Aaah!" "Sometimes,we like to chase cattle around." "It's for fun." "(mooing)" "OK,good." "Thisisour first tower set right here." "(man on radio):" "Yeah, the wind's coming out of the North pretty good." "I'm not sure what you wanna do there." "Seehowit goes." "Ifwedon't  like it, we'll turn around." "[narration] There could be trouble ahead as the wind picks up." "Most helicopters would struggle to lift their own bodyweight in these winds, but this is no ordinary helicopter." "Thiswindis gettingold ." "[narrator] Hidden under the Air" "Crane's transmission is a box of tricks to help ride the gusts." "Inside sits a gyroscope, a microscopic motion detector." "It senses the Air-Crane's every move." "It's an inspired invention whose design owes a debt to the humble crane fly." "Its hind wings have evolved into tiny vibrating drumsticks." "Where they attach to the body, a group of sensory nerve cells keeps track of the fly's position." "Bypassing the brain, they send course corrections straight to the wing muscles." "This helps the crane fly ride out the most turbulent gusts." "The Air-Crane's gyroscope is 6 times smaller, but just as clever." "Inside it a weight vibrates up and down." "When strong winds blast Elvis off course, the gyroscope triggers a signal which travels directly to the rotor head." "This automatically corrects the tilt of the blades before the pilots can even blink." "As the ground crew prepares the next batch of towers a mile down the line, Jamie hooks up this first top section on his own." "Jamie'sgoingto do thehero thing here: the one-man hookup." "(Jamie): 30, 20, 10, 5." "Hold it there." "Coming up." "[narrator] Elvis's gyroscope and Brad's smooth piloting give Jamie an easy ride." "Lookinggood,goingup." "Hooks clear." "OK." "Nicejob." "Thatwentwaybetter than expected." "[narrator] 16,000-lb top section safely attached, it's only a 600-yard hop to Dave's set site." "You'reprobablyabout 60 over." "Oh sure, you're going to face south on this one." "Ilostit there..." "Hello?" "!" "[narrator] Out of nowhere, a sudden blast of wind swings the tower sideways, knocking" "Elvis off course." "(censor beep)" "(censor beep)" "Holyáááá!" "Thewindis reallytoying with them." "EverythingOKthere?" "Weprobablyoughttoabortit here somewhere." "(censor beep) [narrator] Travis makes the call to abort." "It's just not safe to keep flying." "They must ground the tower immediately, and Jamie's the only man within range." "He'll have to go it alone." "We'llseehowwedohere!" "Weprobablyoughttoabortit here somewhere." "[narrator] Violent winds are battering the 8-ton steel tower like a toy." "And the Air-Crane is burning fuel fast." "Boss Jamie's ground crew can't reach him in time, so he must bring the tower in on his own." "8,6 ,5 , 4, 3... [narrator] To stop the tower's spindly legs from crumpling as it's lowered, Jamie must fight the hurricane force rotor-wash to single-handedly force in the metal stiffeners." "He'sreallyfightingit." "Yup." "Jamie'sbreathinghard." "(laughing)" "Oh,I 'moutof breath." "That went surprisingly well." "I'm quite impressed at how well that went." "[narration] Fast footwork on the ground and an incredible helicopter in the air save the day." "(Jamie):" "That was exciting!" "[narrator] A week of punishing winds take its toll on man but not machine." "It'sbeenastrenuousweek ." "A lot of ups and downs." "Everybody's tired, everybody's wore out." "Just ready to get this done." "[narrator] Finally, they get the break they've desperately needed as the gusts die down." "You'reonfire,Vic !" "I'mgladthewindfinally died off for us, Boys are in a rhythm today." "We're catching up, making up for lost time." "[narrator] Pedal to the metal, the Air-Crane sets a structure every 7 minutes." "(Jamie):" "Even with 100 guys on the ground, that helicopter will still stay ahead of us by far." "[narration] They power through 36 hours of good weather to set the last tower in place." "(Travis):" "Alrighty, that's the last one." "Stick a fork in her, boys, I think we're done." "(man on radio):" "Copy." "Yousetarecord!" "No." "I'veneverseentowers go out that fast in my life." "Prettybadass," "I must say myself." "[narrator] Only a few hours over their 8-day schedule, 121 giant towers now straddle Alberta's challenging landscape." "With the power cables strung, this line will form a critical link in Western Canada's upgraded grid, feeding the province's booming oil towns." "Youguysfoughtweather for the last week a bit and got the job done safely." "Great job, guys!" "(all cheering) [narrator] The star of the mission is Elvis, the king of heavyweight helicopters." "Ourlivesdependonhim, our livelihoods depend on him." "And the towers are all standing, we had zero injuries." "The crews are happy and they're all going to go home." "So yeah, we're stoked." "Thankyou." "Thankyou,guys." "Greatjob." "Youcan'tgetany betterof a machine for this type of job." "And I think we've proved that in the last 8.5 days." "[narration] With a few more clicks on his milometer," "Elvis heads for the next mission to face challenges beyond the capabilities of any normal heavy lifter." "All thanks to precision- engineered rotor blades, spinning at 490 mph, jet engines with the power of 12 Formula One cars... a lightning-fast gyroscope to ride the gusts, the world's only rear-facing helicopter pilot station" "and claw-like hooks with an unbreakable grip." "It's these technological secrets that have helped this helicopter evolve to rise above all other machines." "Subtitles:" "Epilogue Technical Services Inc."