Bellevue Helicopter Pick
Daniel’s Broiler, along with Kemper Development, planned for the past year to replace the main air handler serving the dining area at their Bellevue restaurant location. The original equipment, 32 years old, started showing reduced reliability, with frequent repairs and overall lower capacity.
The solution? Equipment replacement through a Helicopter Lift & Pick!
Helicopter picks for mechanical equipment are not very common due to the perceived risk with a flying piece of machinery and hoisting a heavy piece of equipment. (The FAA also has very strict rules for performing these types of activities due to the urban environment the helicopter is flying over.) The City of Bellevue was very helpful to accommodate.
“They trust the MacDonald-Miller team because of our proven success record with technical lifts/picks we have performed in the city in the recent past.” – Jon Sigmund (Account Executive at MacMiller 24 years)
Very tight coordination with many agency’s like the City, FAA, Police and Fire have to take place along with coordinating with surrounding building owners & tenants. Road closures and security are very important part of this type of activity and requires many coordination meetings to make sure all safety protocol is followed.
“The biggest challenge to an activity like this is making sure everyone is safe. There is a lot of preparation that goes into this type of lift and once the helicopter starts flying, verbal communication becomes difficult and hand signals are very important to make sure everyone knows what the hand signals mean. Again, our top priority on this pick is Safety! We’ve been coordinating this one-day event for the past two months with our team and our subcontractors to ensure that all of the correct safety precautions are taken. I’m very excited for the opportunity to be involved in a helicopter pick this dynamic,” said Jess Wigley (Project Engineer).
Shout-out to the MacMiller field team for their critical coordination and planning. Our Sheet Metal Foreman, Steve Lougheed, has been fine tuning his plan to decommission the existing unit and get the new AHU on line in time for the restaurant to reopen.
“Also, I wouldn’t have been so successful in pulling this off without the help of Ryan Rongcal; he was the Associate Project Manager on the 2017 helicopter pick at Lincoln Square and has played a pivotal role in the success of this 2020 pick!” – Jess Wigley.