Penrith-based O’Malley’s Groundworks & Plant Hire recently met a challenging customer request for a mini excavator to be used in a mountainous area of the Lake District. The location was 773m above sea level and the 3 tonne Takeuchi machine had to be air-lifted to site.

The Lake District National Park needed vital repairs to Sail Fell, a well-used mountain path accessible only by foot or air. “We knew we had a machine to do the work; the big question was the engineering skills to dismantle and reassemble an excavator on top of a mountain and the logistics of the airlift,” said MD Tom O’Malley.

The National Park Authority regularly use air service provider PDG, based in Inverness, to reach some parts of the Lake District. PDG advised on the best solution for the excavator airlift. Critical was the 1000kg maximum lift capacity of the helicopter it recommended.

Takeuchi’s TB125 provided the solution, being relatively easy to break down into modular components. The stripped-down undercarriage and frame comprised the heaviest part, weighing in at just under the loading threshold. Indeed, the helicopter had to be completely stripped internally to provide the optimum weight balance.

PDG completed the airlift in one hour’s flying, making five lifts, and O’Malley engineers were ready on the mountainside to reassemble the mini. For the machine operator, getting to the site to undertake the extensive groundworks to repair the path involved a daily steep quad bike ride, followed by a one-mile hike.