A helicopter flying approximately 60 feet off the ground was in the air just outside of my work in Pittsfield, Massachusetts on Thursday.

He was flying so low I thought he was in distress at one point as the helicopter appeared to be struggling to maintain stability.

I was wrong, however. Everything was just fine.

As you can see in the photograph below courtesy of Fabian Gillis of Pittsfield, there is some sort of massive cable attached to the helicopter.

Fabian Gillis
Fabian Gillis
loading...
Fabian Gillis
Fabian Gillis
loading...

Why Was This Helicopter Flying So Low, And What Is That Long Cable Attached?

Aerial trimming is the job that is being done.

An aerial saw is a saw which is flown through the air. The aerial saw may also be known as a helicopter aerial saw.

Large aerial saws are flown by helicopter to trim trees in remote locations when they overgrow power lines, pipelines or other infrastructure -wikipedia

The Saw Blades

Fabian Gillis
Fabian Gillis
loading...
Fabian Gillis
Fabian Gillis
loading...

In the above photos you can see there are ten aerial saw blades attached to the line hanging from the helicopter.

With the amount of rain this summer in the Northeast, the volume of brush and overgrow can be problematic.

Companies such as Eversource or CSX can hire crews to address these issues.

Trees along railroad tracks are also trimmed by aerial saws dangling from these helicopters.

I hope you found this post informative.

LOOK: Here are the states where you are most likely to hit an animal

Hitting an animal while driving is a frightening experience, and this list ranks all 50 states in order of the likelihood of such incidents happening, in addition to providing tips on how to avoid them.

More From WBEC FM