High, Hot, and Heavy: How Density Altitude Governs Every Helicopter Lift
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.
The editorial desk
Erran F. Yearty
Founder and Editor, AHLH. Heavy-lift planning and jobsite coordination.
Erran F. Yearty is the founder and editor of American Heavy Lift Helicopters. He is a co-founder of Fair Lifts Helicopter Services and served as its Chief Marketing Officer. He has helped plan heavy lift operations and worked on site, under the downwash, alongside ground rigging crews and rooftop setting crews. His experience comes from coordinating the work and being there as loads move from the ground to their set points.
At AHLH, he writes and edits for readers who need to understand how a lift is planned and what can change the estimate. He pays particular attention to the qualifications behind aircraft capacity figures and regulatory requirements, including exceptions that can change how a rule applies to a job.
He is also a software engineer and web developer, and the CEO of Sputnik Digital Effects. He has managed and developed the software and portfolio projects presented on its website. The software includes VanityFilter, Sputnik Markdown Viewer, AI Stripper and Sputnik Signal. His portfolio work includes the website and AI systems built for Clean Getaway, as well as VanityFilter and Fair Lifts.
Heavy-lift planning and jobsite coordination
Unmanned aircraft field operations
CEO, Sputnik Digital Effects
Former CMO, Fair Lifts Helicopter Services
Software engineer and web developer
The byline
Articles by Erran
How Much Weight Can a Helicopter Lift? Capacity Tables from Light Twins to the Mi-26
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.