20-Oct-15 – The crew that does most of the helicopter lifts in downtown Chicago performed yet another feat of strength last week, rescuing an airplane that had made an emergency landing on a farm 40 miles west of the Loop.

Midwest Helicopter Airways, based in Willowbrook, was called in to carry a Beechcraft Bonanza single-engine airplane from a field four miles back to DuPage Airport in West Chicago.

Shortly after takeoff, the 17-year-old airplane, originally from Menomonie, Wisconsin, experienced engine failure but was undamaged in an otherwise “uneventful” landing in a bean field.

Jim Triggs, director of operations at Midwest Helicopter Airways, piloted the Sikorksy S-58T. A video, uploaded to YouTube on Monday, from a camera attached to Triggs’s helmet, captured the rescue from his point of view.

As Triggs maneuvers his helicopter over the airplane, it is seen being fitted with straps that attach to a single cable connected to the Sikorsky. Radio communication can be heard between Triggs and his ground crew, as well as communication between airplanes in the area and the nearby airport.

Triggs is asked for “a little bit of slack” as the cables are secured. He then gently lifts the 3,000 pound airplane and carries it over roads, fields, high voltage lines, trees, and railroad tracks, keeping the Bonanza at least 150 feet above obstacles. The straps shake during the nine minute trip to DuPage Airport.

(Above) At the airport, the airplane is set down on a taxiway, where another crew is waiting to unhook the cables.

Roads along the way were closed and airport traffic was adjusted. Midwest says the airplane was undamaged on delivery and the lift “went better than planned.”

Another video, shot from the ground by Mariano Rosales and uploaded to YouTube on Friday, shows the airplane arriving at the airport.