HELICOPTER AIRLIFTS
TRAPPE GRAIN BINS
      Trappe Landing Grain Company, Inc. picked up and moved its grain storage bins Tuesday, and moved inland to its new location on U.S. 50 a mile north of town.
      Five of the bins at the company's La Trappe Creek site were moved by helicopter Tuesday. The mill is operated by its founder Granville Wise. The giant chopper dropped 90 feet of cable, hooked into the bins, hoisted them off their footings and zoomed the 2.4 mile distance inland to Wise's new location...
      The only hitch in the whole operation was the unsuccessful attempt by Erickson Air Crane Company, Marysville, Calif., to move the 24,000 bushel bin. Hugh Reditt, who was handling the operation at the liftoff site, stopped the first attempt when pilot Lee Ramage advised he had 19,000 pounds lift pressure on it.
      Ramage later said they feared they might tear the bin apart, since its weight was estimated at only 15,000-16,000 pounds. The second and third attempts to move the bin after it had been jacked free of its base also failed when the chopper could not lift it.
      The crew then cut three bottom rings of the bin free to lighten the load. The chopper was then successful in lifting the shortened bin high over a nearby tree, only to begin to loose altitude. The bin was set down fast in the middle of Trappe Landing Road when it became evident that the chopper was not going to be able to carry it to the new location.
      The problem with this lighten bin seemed to be related to the lack of a bottom in it. In some way it created a downdraft that overpowered the chopper. All the other bins, although weighing 18,500 pounds each, created no such problem. All had bottoms at the time they were moved...
      The chopper successfully moved three 13,000 bushel capacity bins, one 9,000 and one 6,000 bushel bin. A 78,000 bushel capacity bin is also to be moved later by a ground level moving operation. The two 37,000 bushel bins at the old site and all the other equipment has been sold to an operation in Dorchester Co. Wise said...
      Moving the mill away from the water will not hinder his shipments of grain. "We have not shipped grain by boat for five years."    [Star Democrat April 25, `1973]