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International Heavy Haul 2 DVD... Heavy Haulage at its Best

In International Heavy Haul Two we travel to four different parts of the world to bring you features showing heavy haulage at its most impressive.

This Trucking DVD is filmed in four different parts of the world.

The first film looks at the transport of two 130-tonne bridge beams in Australia. We see the crews starting their day’s work in a remote layby on the Great Northern Highway between Perth and Port Hedland, and accompany them for some distance - excellent in- cab footage is included. Traction is provided by Mack-ballasted tractors with the beams supported front and rear on 7&8 row bogies.

In the second feature we move to South Africa. Here we were privileged to witness the movement of a 356-tonne transformer, which was being carried on a girder frame supported by 24 rows of axles. Motive power is provided by three 8x8 Tractomas ballasted tractors and a rebuilt 6x4 Pacific. The sight and sound of this awesome combination is definitely not to be missed. We also film various other heavy loads with a variety of bal - lasted and 5th wheel tractors.

For the third part of our quartet, we have to thank Warwick Bell, general manager of Tranzcarr in New Zealand, who very kindly allowed us to use a film made for Tranzcarr showing the haulage of two transformers to a wind-farm project. The loads, weighing nearly 100 tons each, were carried on ten rows of axles, pulled and pushed by two Mack tractors. Other trucks were brought in to assist on gradients of up to 20% (1 in 5). The film follows the whole job, from unloading the transformers from a ship in the Port of Wellington through to final installation at the job site.

Our final feature brings us back to England to witness ALE moving two redundant giant boilers from the decommissioned Berkeley power station to the docks at Sharpnees. Motive power is provide by ALE’s unique Unipower 8x8 tractor and a 6x6 Faun tractor. Filming starts at the power station and follows the loads through to the docks. There we see them being loaded onto a barge belonging to Robert Wynn and Sons for onward shipment to Avonmouth Docks, where they were due to be loaded onto a freighter for delivery to Sweden for processing.

Please click to view International Heavy Haul 2 

The Great American Wheat Harvest

The Great American Wheat Harvest is a documentary film that tells the story of hard-working families who spend each summer travelling from Texas to the Canadian border and beyond, harvesting thousands of acres of wheat. They take risks most of us wouldn’t dream of taking so that all of us have an abundance of food on our tables.

Battling high fuel prices, labor shortages, extreme weather, severe drought, and occasionally a fire, these harvesting crews wouldn’t dream of doing anything else, because they know they are harvesting the wheat that feeds the world.

http://www.oldpond.com/the-great-american-wheat-harvest.html 

 

View the trailer here:

 

Rookie pilots defy bone-chilling temperatures to fly cargo and passengers through blizzards, breakdowns and transatlantic journeys.

ICE PILOTS - THE COMPLETE SERIES 2 (DVD)

Ice Pilots NWT is a 13-episode real-life docu series about an unorthodox airline in the Canadian North. Yellowknife-based Buffalo Airways flies WWII-era propeller planes big old aircraft built by “Rosie the Riveter” and pretty much unchanged.

Rookie pilots defy bone-chilling temperatures to fly cargo and passengers through blizzards, breakdowns and transatlantic journeys. It’s an impossible job in a merciless place.

New recruits come to slog it out on the ramp in -30°C weather to earn a chance to fly planes that most airlines scrapped long ago. Classics like the Douglas DC-3 and DC-4 and the Curtiss C-46 Commando, the very planes that once ferried troops and supplies in WWII. 

Few newbies make it. As they compete to rise up the ranks, they cope with ice storms, forest fires, treacherous landings and legendary owner “Buffalo” Joe McBryan’s famous temper. Buffalo Airways is literally a lifeline to the North. As Joe’s son Mikey McBryan puts it: “You can’t separate the North from flying. It’s the same thing.” Without Buffalo Airways, food and supplies wouldn’t reach the many northern communities cut off from the rest of the world during the long, harsh winter.

This season on Ice Pilots NWT, viewers will follow a treacherous transatlantic journey in the middle of winter as crews attempt to deliver two Canadair CL-215 waterbombers to their new owners in Turkey. The problem? These aircraft aren’t designed to fly in winter conditions and aren’t configured for flying over larges bodies of water. Getting there proves to be a daring feat. 

 

Viewers will also watch the drama unfold as pilots fresh out of flight school pay their dues as“rampies”, anxious for a chance to fly. Rampies load cargo, sweep snow off the wings and log hours as flight attendants, competing fiercely with one another for the next coveted co-pilot position. Friendships among pilots are also tested as they vie for enough flight hours to make captain. By the end of the season, someone will be leaving Buffalo Airways. Ice Pilots NWT gives viewers a rare look at life “north of 60”. With the economic downturn, a dwindling supply of speciality aviation gas and the high cost of flying vintage aircraft, the very future of Buffalo Airways hangs in the balance.

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