# Moving big things with helium balloons **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 6, 2016, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moving-big-things-with-helium-balloons/770792 "2016-11-06T06:44:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2016, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moving-big-things-with-helium-balloons/770792/21 "2016-11-07T19:20:02Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Always good to have an opportunity to cite **The horror of blimps** , one of SD’s finest: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=160851](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=160851) Laughed so hard I piddled myself … ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2016, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moving-big-things-with-helium-balloons/770792/22 "2016-11-07T19:35:10Z")
> [@Banksiaman](#): > > [this site](http://www.fireflyballoons.net/build/BLLNFF8B.html) gives U$33,000 for a 'medium passenger carrying" balloon of 18 metres diameter, so one scaled up to 27 metres diameter would have to give you change back from $100K. And yes, allow for the balloon’s own weight etc. That’s a hot-air balloon. Hot air has much less lifting capacity than helium, so it can be much weaker. It also doesn’t need to be very leak-proof. Helium is very hard to seal against. > [@](#): > > A sealed balloon would be presumably reusable time and again, until that moment’s inattention when it goes zooming off into the sky while you are busy trying to text someone and let go of the big string. How are you going to store the helium balloon for reuse?? Towing a fully inflated helium balloon of this size would be extremely difficult. It would take a fairly significant piece of equipment to compress it back into tanks. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2016, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moving-big-things-with-helium-balloons/770792/23 "2016-11-08T23:10:39Z")
> [@Banksiaman](#): > > A sealed balloon would be presumably reusable time and again, until that moment’s inattention Fewer times than you might think. The fabric is succeptable to UV radiation, is normally used in fair wind and clear skies, and unless you use it only at night, doesn’t actually fail, but becomes too dangerous to use after some relatively small number of hours. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moving-big-things-with-helium-balloons/770792/24 "2016-11-09T07:41:52Z")
Well, back to the drawing board. ---
**Author:** ![correlophus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@correlophus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/correlophus)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moving-big-things-with-helium-balloons/770792/25 "2016-11-09T16:50:46Z")
The plan will present many difficulties and so it is unfeasible. First you will need large quantities of helium. Second you will need a propelling system which will send the baloon to the direction you want, that will put extra weight. Third the baloon will be vulnerable to uv radiation and other hazards which will weaken it. Also, what will happen if it punctures and falls? Overall it is unfeasible. There are many better ways of transporting something. Also I think helium is in short supply, and we don’t want to deplete it with no serious reason. ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moving-big-things-with-helium-balloons/770792/26 "2016-11-09T17:51:57Z")
[quote=“Enola\_Straight, post:12, topic:770792”] Years ago the logging industry tried…and failed…to make a sky-crane out of a blimp and four helicopters. The Heli-stat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9xPAm1Xo3Q [/QUOTE] But [balloon logging](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnV-dRw8byY)was/is a real thing. Because of the limited applications it never really took off but it was done until helicopter logging made it obsolete. The lift capacity is said to be about 25,000 lbs. A two drum yarder worked the main line and the haul back line and the balloon was just used for lift. ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moving-big-things-with-helium-balloons/770792/27 "2016-11-09T18:12:40Z")
Here is an [link](https://books.google.com/books?id=YVteNzkhHYoC&pg=PA540&lpg=PA540&dq=balloon+logging+lift+capacity&source=bl&ots=3TA495UppD&sig=yavfGNAqa6CMjxdt6HnTLvK1k0s&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiH65CxopzQAhVN0WMKHbNCDH0Q6AEIIDAB#v=onepage&q=balloon%20logging%20lift%20capacity&f=false) to the Forestry Handbook. It gives three rigging combinations. A haulback system where the balloon actually moves due to the yarder. A skyline system where a carriage moves and the balloon is the lift for the carriage. And a yo-yo system with two yarders. ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moving-big-things-with-helium-balloons/770792/28 "2016-11-09T19:10:43Z")
> [@correlophus](#): > > The plan will present many difficulties and so it is unfeasible. First you will need large quantities of helium. Second you will need a propelling system which will send the baloon to the direction you want, that will put extra weight. Third the baloon will be vulnerable to uv radiation and other hazards which will weaken it. Also, what will happen if it punctures and falls? Overall it is unfeasible. There are many better ways of transporting something. Also I think helium is in short supply, and we don’t want to deplete it with no serious reason. You say it’s unfeasible but based on my back of the hand calculations and three different logging cost calculators. I think that if the OP: Had access to a skyline yarder and a motorized carriage. (and a balloon) and Had a non-roaded yarding distance of somewhere over 3000 feet and less then 7500 feet and the ground was fairly steep with convex slopes. and Had to move thousands of similar blocks and Each block was worth about $1200 at it’s destination. Then it would be slightly more feasible then using a helicopter. \*Based on 2.5 mbf to 10000 lb conversion. $500 per thousand heli cost. $225 per thousand skyline cost at 3000ft. and $500 per mbf log value \* ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moving-big-things-with-helium-balloons/770792/29 "2016-11-09T23:41:05Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > In actual practice, it is much easier to start something like this moving, than it is to stop it. You just lean against it for a while, and it starts moving. For some reason, it’s much harder to get your head around the fact that you have to lean against it for the same amount of time to stop it, and this it will crush you flat if you get between it and a wall. If anyone wants to try this, just go down to the docks, and find a nice big boat that is tied down. You’ll be amazed at how possible it is to make it move. Notice that I didn’t say “how easy it is”. You’ll have to put a lot of muscle into the task. But it CAN be done. It won’t go very far, and not too fast either. But as the boat floats it is essentially weightless, and the only thing you’re fighting is inertia (and some friction against the water, I suppose). The fact that you can move the boat _at all_ is amazing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moving-big-things-with-helium-balloons/770792.md?page=1)