The editorial desk
Founder and Editor, AHLH. Software engineer, web developer, and helicopter nerd.
Erran F. Yearty is a software engineer and web developer who has spent his career at the intersection of marketing technology and the helicopter industry. From December 2018 through 2026 he served as Chief Marketing Officer at Fair Lifts Helicopter Services, where he built the content and search programs that made the company a reference name in aerial lifting.
He is the CEO of Sputnik Digital, LLC (SputnikFX). Shipped work includes VanityFilter (Windows computer-vision desktop app: Python, OpenCV, MediaPipe), Sputnik Markdown Viewer (Electron desktop editor), and Sputnik Signal (first-party display ad network: Laravel portals, delivery API, signed attribution). Broader stack covers full-stack web platforms, SEO at scale, cloud data (BigQuery), and product packaging from engine through installer and storefront.
At AHLH he writes and edits the technical library: aircraft profiles, cost analyses, and regulatory explainers for the people who estimate, engineer, and manage heavy lifts.
The byline
A contractor's general liability policy excludes aircraft, so a helicopter lift rides on the operator's aviation insurance: hull, liability, and on-hook cover.
The Fulton Skyhook lifted people and cargo into a flying aircraft without landing. How it worked, where it flew, and why it shaped modern lift.
Why professional lift coordination de-risks a heavy helicopter lift, from lift specification and operator vetting to aircraft matching and schedule staging.
Why aerial rigging departs from crane practice: center of gravity, sling-angle tension, 5:1/7:1/10:1 design factors, and ASME B30 hardware.
A prequalification guide to verifying a helicopter lift operator's Part 133 certificate, insurance stack, and safety record before you sign.
Helicopter payload is dynamic: it falls roughly 3% per 1,000 ft of density altitude, so high, hot sites cut capacity well below the brochure figure.
US civil helicopters top out near 28,000 pounds on the hook; the Mi-26 lifts 44,000. The full capacity table, with the density altitude math behind every number.
