19-Apr-15 – The smallest single-cell PT2 HVAC cooling tower that Baltimore Aircoil Company makes weighs only 3,490 pounds but it does not fit into a FedEx delivery truck.

When a nearly two-ton air conditioner part absolutely positively has to get to the roof of a 47-story apartment building in downtown Chicago, almost always the same company is hired. The same helicopter gets the job, and it is flown by one of two pilots.

The Sikorksy S-58T twin-turbine helicopter, employed by Midwest Helicopter Airways of Willowbrook, southwest of the Loop, is a familiar sight over the Chicago riverfront. It has delivered steel beams to the roof of Merchandise Mart and to the roof of theWit hotel. It helped take down each letter in the Unitrin sign on the north and south sides of One East Wacker Drive and one week later, lower into place each letter of the new Kemper signs.

In 2010, the helicopter delivered camera gear to the roof of 35 East Wacker Drive during filming of Transformers 3 and on October 26, 2014, it delivered to Marina City equipment needed for Nik Wallenda’s high-wire walk across the Chicago River. It came back to Marina City on April 4, 2015, and replaced air conditioner condensers on both towers.

The S-58T can lift up to 4,500 pounds and fly as fast as 125 miles per hour. Midwest has owned it since the 1980s.

Jim Triggs, director of operations, piloted the Sikorsky on Saturday, making four trips to the roof of 200 North Dearborn, the 462-foot building at Dearborn & Lake. He says the job, overall, “went great” despite the wind.

“Winds were rough on the first set and the last two,” he says. “We tried the extra line but that didn’t work that well. We just work a lot slower in the super congested areas like that.”

(Left) Triggs from a 2011 video by Chuck Dere. Randy McCormick has also piloted missions for Midwest Helicopter Airways, including a job last year that required 31 trips from Wacker Drive to Dirksen Federal Building, followed by 15 lifts to the observation decks of both Marina City towers.

(Right) The load. 40 minutes before the lift starts, two air conditioner parts, each weighing nearly two tons, sit on a truck parked on Dearborn Street just south of Lake Street. They will travel to the top of the white building in the distance at left. In addition to flying a helicopter past skyscrapers, the crew must deal with a representative of Chicago Department of Transportation, who was ticketing their truck.

Final huddle. Workers meet on Dearborn Street for last-minute instructions. As the cooling tower is lifted, its fan blades will spin from the air resistance.

The handoff. A man in a green safety vest hangs on to cables attached to the load. The man nearby in the dark shirt is approaching with the cable attached to the helicopter. They will hook that cable to the ones carrying the cooling tower.	The Sikorsky takes it from there…

The equipment is carried skyward…

…to the roof of 200 North Dearborn. The helicopter and its crew will get some rest on Saturday but be back in the Loop on Sunday morning, lifting trees to the roof at One Prudential Plaza.

A Sikorsky S-58T twin-turbine helicopter, employed by Midwest Helicopter Airways, removes an air conditioner condenser from the tip-top of Marina City’s east tower on April 4, 2015. Two condenser units, each weighing at least 4,000 pounds, were then lifted, one for each tower. The units will restore air conditioning to hallways on residential floors. Video captured by an unidentified guest of Wyndham Grand Chicago Riverfront hotel.