Episode 4: Huge Helicopter
A team of engineers race to move a £20 million search and rescue helicopter, almost 3,500 miles, from a Pennsylvania factory in the USA to its coastguard base in the Shetland Islands. The Coastguard has a tight deadline to get the helicopter into service so they can’t afford to wait for delivery by boat. Instead they call in a team to transport the machine in the world’s largest production aircraft – the mighty Russian Antonov 124. Two teams of aviation engineers race to prepare the brand new helicopter for its epic flight to make sure its pristine frame will squeeze into the Antonov without a scratch. An American crew removes the helicopter’s rotor blades in the USA while a British team has to re-attach them in Scotland. Both teams must treat the precision-engineered rotor blades with kid gloves and overcome the language barrier between themselves and the Antonov’s Russian crew to get the helicopter to the Shetlands safely. Can the chopper cross the Atlantic in record time and begin operational duties before the Coast Guard’s deadline?