17 April 2013

Pulling dumped cars out of the Cotter

| johnboy
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heli lift

TAMS are letting us know they’ve hired a helicopter to pull the dumped cars out of the Cotter River:

Nine abandoned vehicles will be removed from the Cotter River in the vicinity of Vanity’s Crossing today, Wednesday 17 April 2013, in an effort clean up the site and protect the ACT’s water supply, Brett McNamara, Operations Manager, Rural District, National Parks and Catchments, said today.

The clean up initiative is being undertaken by ACT Parks and Conservation Service in partnership with ACTEW Water as part of their Source Water Protection Program.

“A heavy lift helicopter will be used today to remove nine abandoned vehicles from the Cotter River upstream of Vanity’s Crossing,” Mr McNamara said.

“The removal of vehicles from the river is timely in light of the newly expanded Cotter Dam and the forecast high water mark just downstream from Vanity’s Crossing. Once the water level in the Cotter Catchment reaches full capacity, these abandoned vehicles would become submerged in the river if not removed.

[Photo courtesy TAMS]

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KB1971 said :

Apology in advance P1, I miss read “Then” because of the typo. I am assuming it should have been “than”?

Sorry, yes, I was suggesting the Helo would be cheaper/simpler/more environmentally sound.

Felix the Cat1:19 pm 18 Apr 13

p1 said :

Even at tens of thousands of dollars per hour for such a job – and it would be that kind of money – it would be much cheaper then the earth moving equipment needed to make road access to get a crane close enough to pull the cars out (our you could drag them out with a dozer… either way, not very tidy, since the aim is to clean the place up).

I read it cost $40K for the special helicopter to lift the cars outs

dungfungus said :

DrKoresh said :

dungfungus said :

Also, even though the authorities have located numerous cannabis crops in the ranges around Canberra, how many more are there that are undetected?

Let’s hope there are many, many more 😀

I hope you were joking.
I think the organic stuff is rapidly being replaced by the “synthetic” stuff, laced with deadly chemicals.
Teenagers I have spoken with claim the synthetic stuff is legal and cheaper. My comment to them was “there is no such thing as a synthetic death from substance abuse”. They couldn’t comprehend that, probably because they were already stoned or it was a bit deep for them.

Kids today heh?

DrKoresh said :

dungfungus said :

Also, even though the authorities have located numerous cannabis crops in the ranges around Canberra, how many more are there that are undetected?

Let’s hope there are many, many more 😀

I hope you were joking.
I think the organic stuff is rapidly being replaced by the “synthetic” stuff, laced with deadly chemicals.
Teenagers I have spoken with claim the synthetic stuff is legal and cheaper. My comment to them was “there is no such thing as a synthetic death from substance abuse”. They couldn’t comprehend that, probably because they were already stoned or it was a bit deep for them.

460cixy said :

I guess they HAD to use a chopper

No cheaper alternative ?

How about we give you all your tax dollars back, and you stop using tax-payer / government funded services?

dungfungus said :

Also, even though the authorities have located numerous cannabis crops in the ranges around Canberra, how many more are there that are undetected?

Let’s hope there are many, many more 😀

460cixy said :

KB1971 said :

460cixy said :

I guess they HAD to use a chopper

No cheaper alternative ?

Have you been along the Cotter River valley upstream of the dam?

The article mentions vanity s crossing. So yes I used to go throu there a lot before they fenced it all off of course not that it has stopped anyone realy they just drive throu the fences or gates

You would then know about the fact that that areas is quite steep with littel access to where most of the vehicles have been pitched over the side. Some of it is near vertical……..

OpenYourMind10:45 am 18 Apr 13

Spiral said :

Perhaps we could combine a this topic with the ever popular bad parking ones.

They should use the helicopter to lift up cars parked really badly and kindly drop them back in their owner’s driveways (from a great height).

Couldn’t agree more. Bad parking is our #1 community problem in Canberra according to RiotACT.

Spiral said :

Perhaps we could combine a this topic with the ever popular bad parking ones.

They should use the helicopter to lift up cars parked really badly and kindly drop them back in their owner’s driveways (from a great height).

At an air show at Nowra a few years ago, the MC announced that an illegally parked car at Nowra had been “seized” by a Sea King helicopter and it would be arriving over the base in 2 minutes to demonstrate how they deal with the problem of illegal parking. When the Sea King arrived at about 500′ it spectactularly dropped the car onto the runway verge. Of course, it was all a stunt but, perhaps one day………………………

KB1971 said :

460cixy said :

I guess they HAD to use a chopper

No cheaper alternative ?

Have you been along the Cotter River valley upstream of the dam?

The article mentions vanity s crossing. So yes I used to go throu there a lot before they fenced it all off of course not that it has stopped anyone realy they just drive throu the fences or gates

Perhaps we could combine a this topic with the ever popular bad parking ones.

They should use the helicopter to lift up cars parked really badly and kindly drop them back in their owner’s driveways (from a great height).

KB1971 said :

p1 said :

Even at tens of thousands of dollars per hour for such a job – and it would be that kind of money – it would be much cheaper then the earth moving equipment needed to make road access to get a crane close enough to pull the cars out (our you could drag them out with a dozer… either way, not very tidy, since the aim is to clean the place up).

Really?

What is a D9 worth? Half a million or more? It would have to be charged out at $500/h ish.

It then has to build a road good enough to get an off road crane with a massive boom close enough to lift cars out of gullies quite a distance away.

Cranes dont come cheap, the smallish Japanese ones you see getting around here are worth half a mil too but would not have the lift capacity or boom length at full extension, so a more expensive jobbie would be needed.

Then you have to build a road close enough to get to each wreck, not evey wreck will be in the same spot.

Weeks of work, then there is the WHS issues of having such heavy machinery working in steep terrain.

Then there is the environmental damage. Any disturbing of the surrounding hills in a water catchment would degrade water quality.

Given the location & what they are removing, the helicopter would be the most sensible option I would think.

Apology in advance P1, I miss read “Then” because of the typo. I am assuming it should have been “than”?

p1 said :

Even at tens of thousands of dollars per hour for such a job – and it would be that kind of money – it would be much cheaper then the earth moving equipment needed to make road access to get a crane close enough to pull the cars out (our you could drag them out with a dozer… either way, not very tidy, since the aim is to clean the place up).

Really?

What is a D9 worth? Half a million or more? It would have to be charged out at $500/h ish.

It then has to build a road good enough to get an off road crane with a massive boom close enough to lift cars out of gullies quite a distance away.

Cranes dont come cheap, the smallish Japanese ones you see getting around here are worth half a mil too but would not have the lift capacity or boom length at full extension, so a more expensive jobbie would be needed.

Then you have to build a road close enough to get to each wreck, not evey wreck will be in the same spot.

Weeks of work, then there is the WHS issues of having such heavy machinery working in steep terrain.

Then there is the environmental damage. Any disturbing of the surrounding hills in a water catchment would degrade water quality.

Given the location & what they are removing, the helicopter would be the most sensible option I would think.

Even at tens of thousands of dollars per hour for such a job – and it would be that kind of money – it would be much cheaper then the earth moving equipment needed to make road access to get a crane close enough to pull the cars out (our you could drag them out with a dozer… either way, not very tidy, since the aim is to clean the place up).

KB1971 said :

It was amazing to see the amount of cars dumped on the northern side of the river after the fires. They were all hidden by the undergrowth.

Your observation highlights the problems of visually locating missing/crashed light aircraft in the mountain ranges of Eastern Australia. There are still several missing aircraft (and the poor souls that were in them) unaccounted for in areas around Canberra.
Also, even though the authorities have located numerous cannabis crops in the ranges around Canberra, how many more are there that are undetected?

460cixy said :

I guess they HAD to use a chopper

No cheaper alternative ?

Have you been along the Cotter River valley upstream of the dam?

460cixy said :

I guess they HAD to use a chopper

No cheaper alternative ?

It wasn’t a matter of finding a cheaper alternative, there was no alternative. Using this special lift helicopter was very cost effective, the whole job being done in a few hours with the cars being lifted from recovery vehicle inaccessable areas to access road where tow trucks could take them away.
Good job done TAMS – maybe this type of operation could be done regularly from now on to recover other trashed vehicle around Canberra.

460cixy said :

I guess they HAD to use a chopper

No cheaper alternative ?

Why do you care? Like me, you’re contributing a poofteenth of a dollar to this.

I guess they HAD to use a chopper No cheaper alternative ?

thebrownstreak698:08 am 18 Apr 13

Dude, where’s my car?

Just the odd one or two hundred insurance jobs over the decades.

It was amazing to see the amount of cars dumped on the northern side of the river after the fires. They were all hidden by the undergrowth.

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