B lue skies surround Peiting in Upper Bavaria There s a bit of wind Perfect flying conditions for Philipp Dejakom Sat in the helicopter cockpit the pilot leans right out into the bulge of the bubble door His gaze is directed downwards towards the suspended saw making short work of branches up to 25 centimetres thick roughly 30 metres below him His face is a picture of concen tration and all his senses are sharpened Which way is the wind blowing How are the helicopter and the tool behaving Together experience and intuition allow the pilot to judge which direction the stick should move in to pass the machine closely by a power line and to cautiously raise and lower the eight metre long saw His only support The copilot keeping an eye on the instruments and a man on the ground with a microphone to keep them abreast of the situation This is no stunt but rather an economical method of keeping power line routes clear of branches and thereby preventing power outages A dream becomes reality Philipp was inspired to become a pilot after a flight in a helicopter during his teen age years In 1998 he realised that dream by completing his studies in California It was cheaper to study in California than in his home country of Austria and the region offered more adventure to boot He returned from the USA acquired an Austrian pilot s licence and there was no stopping him Philipp Dejakom flies with and without external loads be it for rescue operations supplying mountain lodges or carrying construction materials into the mountains for cable car systems He loves the variety and the thrills That meant there was only a moment s hesitation when his employer was on the lookout for an experi enced pilot they could trust to perform tricky manoeuvres while strapped to a saw weighing around 500 kilograms On the first flight things were very tense but it got easier as we got into the routine reflects Philipp Dejakom 40 with a smile To date he has accumulated over 6000 flight hours roughly 400 of which have been spent trimming trees And yet despite all his experience he cannot allow his concentration to lapse during a flight Although the electricity is switched off along the stretch of line being worked on sawing through a cable would entail a large delay in the work and additional costs for the client most often energy companies from Germany Austria and Switzerland In addition an entangled saw would place the pilots in mortal danger and would need to be jettisoned in a matter of seconds using a pull handle Fortunately Philipp Dejakom has been spared this situation thus far A little luck is needed as well The trees sway to and fro because of the downdraught from the rotor That makes the sawing harder All set Whether a sightseeing trip trans porting loads or cutting back trees helicopter pilot Philipp Dejakom is ready for every flight 8 PERSPECTIVES

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