Special missions · lift programme
Helicopter lift day calculator
Short answer: a lift day is decided by cycle time, not by aircraft speed. Enter the number of loads, the round-trip cycle time, the ground time to hook on and release each load, refuelling and your usable daylight or permitted window, and this tool returns how many lifts fit in a day, the flying hours involved and how many lift days the programme needs. It is a planning frame; the operator confirms it against weather, performance and approvals.
Lift programmes overrun on the ground, not in the air. Two minutes of extra hook-up time per load across sixty loads is two extra hours, and two extra hours at the end of a short winter day is a second mobilisation. Sizing the cycle honestly before operators quote is what keeps a lift programme to one day.
Mission inputs
These figures are planning arithmetic on the numbers you entered — not a quote, not a performance calculation and not a feasibility ruling. Use them to brief operators; the performing operator confirms what is actually possible.
Lift days needed
1 lift day
Based on 24 loads at 10m per load, 1 refuelling stop and a 25% weather and handling allowance.
Time per load
10m
6 min flying + 4 min on the hook.
Loads per working day
28
Inside the window you entered, after the allowance.
Productive work time
5h 25m
Including refuelling and the allowance, excluding positioning.
Flying hours in the programme
3h 24m
Lift cycles plus positioning across every day.
Window per day
7 h
First day effectively 6h 00m after positioning.
Refuelling
1 × 20 min
Confirm the fuel source with the operator — on remote sites it is often trucked in.
Preliminary estimate for planning purposes only — not a confirmed price, availability or booking. Final routing, operational feasibility and pricing must be confirmed by the selected licensed operator.
Turn this estimate into a mission request
The figures above are a planning frame, not an offer. Send the mission and SkyMatch reviews it, researches operators holding the relevant approvals and comes back with current options. Your inputs are carried across — nothing needs retyping.
See how a request becomes a confirmed flight — review, operator options, written confirmation.
What actually moves this number
- Ground time per load. It is the single biggest lever on a lift day and the one most often underestimated.
- Cycle geometry. A shorter pickup point, even a poorer one, usually beats a faster aircraft.
- The usable window. Daylight, noise curfews, road-closure permissions and site access hours all compete — the shortest one wins.
- Refuelling logistics. On remote sites the fuel arrives by truck, and that schedule sets the day.
- Weather exposure. Mountain and coastal programmes lose whole days, not minutes.
- Positioning. Whether the aircraft sleeps near the site or flies home changes both hours and cost.
What this tool does not decide
- Whether any aircraft with the required hook capability is genuinely available in your window — that is capacity, not arithmetic.
- Whether the operator's performance charts support the lift at your elevation, temperature and hover height.
- Whether the authority, the site owner and the road, rail or building owner approve the flight profile and the exclusion zone.
- Whether the rigging, slings and lift points are certified and correctly specified for the load.
- The binding price. Operators quote lift programmes; these tools size the mission first.
SkyMatch Group is an independent helicopter charter broker and a human-reviewed mission platform. It does not operate aircraft. Every flight is performed by an independent licensed operator, and every introduction is approved by SkyMatch before it happens.
For procurement & project buyers
Building the lift programme into a project schedule
Procurement buyers usually need a defensible number of flight days, not a price. Cycle time, refuel cycles, daylight and the realistic weather factor for the season decide that number. Use the programme figures above as the planning basis in your schedule, state the weather assumption explicitly, and send the mission through for human review before you commit dates to a client.
Scope of work lines you can reuse
- Multi-cycle external-load programme delivered over a defined number of working days within a stated window.
- Daily productive flying limited by daylight, refuelling cycles, crew duty limits and site working hours.
- Weather contingency days identified separately from productive days in the programme.
- Staging area, fuel arrangement and ground crew availability confirmed before mobilisation.
- Sequence of loads agreed in writing so the aircraft is never waiting on the ground team.
Supplier qualification checklist
- Air operator certificate held by the performing operator, with the external-load / aerial-work privilege listed on it.
- Evidence of the specific approval for the work: human external cargo, long-line, or over-populated-area operations where applicable.
- Insurance certificate showing hull and third-party liability limits, and whether your site and your client are covered as additional insureds.
- Pilot experience stated against this class of work (external load hours), not general flight hours.
- Mass and balance plus HOGE performance data for the actual aircraft at the site's elevation and expected temperature.
- Site-specific risk assessment, method statement and load-rigging plan before mobilisation.
- Named point of contact for the flight days and the escalation route if weather stops the programme.
Paste-ready RFQ specification
HELICOPTER MISSION — REQUEST FOR QUOTATION (draft specification)
1. SCOPE OF WORK
- Multi-cycle external-load programme delivered over a defined number of working days within a stated window.
- Daily productive flying limited by daylight, refuelling cycles, crew duty limits and site working hours.
- Weather contingency days identified separately from productive days in the programme.
- Staging area, fuel arrangement and ground crew availability confirmed before mobilisation.
- Sequence of loads agreed in writing so the aircraft is never waiting on the ground team.
2. TECHNICAL DATA (from the buyer's own planning inputs)
Lift programme sizing: 24 loads, 6 min flight cycle + 4 min ground per load = 10m per load. 1 refuelling stop(s) at 20 min. Weather/handling allowance 25%. Working window 7 h/day, positioning 60 min. Result: 1 lift day(s), ~28 loads/day, 3h 24m total flying.
3. SUPPLIER QUALIFICATION & DOCUMENTATION REQUIRED
- Air operator certificate held by the performing operator, with the external-load / aerial-work privilege listed on it.
- Evidence of the specific approval for the work: human external cargo, long-line, or over-populated-area operations where applicable.
- Insurance certificate showing hull and third-party liability limits, and whether your site and your client are covered as additional insureds.
- Pilot experience stated against this class of work (external load hours), not general flight hours.
- Mass and balance plus HOGE performance data for the actual aircraft at the site's elevation and expected temperature.
- Site-specific risk assessment, method statement and load-rigging plan before mobilisation.
- Named point of contact for the flight days and the escalation route if weather stops the programme.
4. COMMERCIAL BASIS
- Quoted per flight hour and/or per lift cycle, positioning stated separately.
- Standby, weather-hold and cancellation terms stated in writing.
- Validity period and currency stated by the operator.
5. NOTES
- Figures above are indicative planning inputs, not an offer and not a feasibility ruling.
- Subject to SkyMatch human review, operator approval, aircraft availability, weather,
safety requirements, landing permissions and local regulations.Indicative planning text only. It is not a quotation and does not confirm availability, permits or feasibility; the performing operator and the relevant authorities decide those.
Procurement questions, answered
How many flight days should a tender allow for a helicopter lift programme?
Take the productive cycles per day the tool returns, then add explicit weather contingency for the season and region. Programmes that assume perfect weather routinely overrun; an honest contingency line is what protects the schedule and the commercial position.
What causes lift programmes to overrun on site?
Ground-side readiness more often than the aircraft: loads not rigged in sequence, access not cleared, no dedicated banksman, or a staging area too far from the placement point. Fixing the cycle on the ground usually buys more days than changing aircraft.
Should standby days be priced in the contract?
Yes, explicitly. Ask each operator to state standby, weather-hold and cancellation terms in writing so the programme risk is visible and comparable across quotations.
Does SkyMatch confirm dates or availability?
No. Dates, availability and aircraft allocation are confirmed only by the performing operator, after SkyMatch human review. Everything here is planning input.
Frequently asked questions
How many lifts can a helicopter do in a day?
It depends almost entirely on cycle time. With a two-minute flight cycle and pre-rigged loads, a utility programme can turn a load every three to four minutes; with a fifteen-minute cycle and manual hook-up, six loads an hour is optimistic. Enter your own cycle and ground time above rather than trusting a headline figure.
Why add a weather and handling allowance?
Because lift days are never clean. Wind holds, load re-rigging, a drop point that is not ready, crew rotation and briefings all consume time. A programme planned at 100% efficiency arrives at the end of the window with loads still on the ground.
Is it cheaper to do one long day or two short ones?
Usually one day, because mobilisation, positioning and crew duty cost repeat. But duty-time limits, daylight and the site's own access hours often make a single day impossible. Operators will say which shape they can actually fly.
Do you provide the ground and rigging crew?
SkyMatch does not perform any part of the operation. Ground handling and rigging are normally provided by the operator, by a specialist lift contractor or by the project itself — who does what is one of the things the brief settles before quotes are compared.
Why does the tool not tell me which helicopter can lift my load?
Because no honest tool can. Hook capability on the day depends on the specific airframe and its configuration, fuel state, hover height, wind, temperature, site elevation and the operator's performance charts. The class ranges shown here are indicative manufacturer figures for planning conversations; the operator's flight manual is the only authority.
Why is there no price on this page?
External-load and aerial-crane work is priced differently from passenger charter — by lift programme, positioning, rigging crew, ground support and standby, not by seat. Publishing a number here would be a guess. These tools size the mission so operators can quote it properly, and the comparison tool works only with figures you already hold.
Who approves flying a load over a site, road or building?
The relevant civil aviation authority and, depending on the country, local authorities, the site or building owner and the road or rail operator. Approvals, exclusion zones, closures and public-safety conditions are set by them, not by SkyMatch or by this calculator.
Does this calculator book a lift?
No. It is a planning tool. SkyMatch Group is an independent helicopter broker and a human-reviewed mission platform: the lift brief is reviewed by a person, operators holding the relevant external-load approvals are researched, and an introduction happens only once SkyMatch approves it. The performing operator confirms aircraft, performance and feasibility.
Markets this calculator is built for
The same inputs, applied to the industrial regions where these missions actually run.
Related planning tools
Using an AI assistant, or buying through procurement?
SkyMatch is an independent helicopter charter broker and human-reviewed request platform. It does not operate aircraft and does not confirm availability, permits, landing permission, weather, route feasibility or final price — licensed operators do, after review. Estimates and directories on this site support research only.