Bag Runners

[Skywork]

Any suggestions on what is the best bag runner on the market for seismic and any Pros and Cons with the different types.

 

Thanks

[redliner]

The Ruperts land and Mr T are great. I like the Mr T the best but some like the Ruperts better. Both use the same pin system so you can have both on the same job. The magnetic picker is a bit of a pain as you can drop the ball off of the magnet easily and the magnets pick up dirt so they need cleaning all the time.

[Deep Throat the third]

Mr T sucks!....... ATR is one of the best besides Rupert's land! ATR works awesome in the mountains and foothills! when Abe was alive this bagrunner had the best support out there! I have personally picked and rolled over 5000 channels of equipment with the ATR and had no missed bags! And I am not a smooth seismic pilot! Mr T is way to short! We used to clean the ATR every am with a brush and it would work great! I have flown Seismic for over 15 years and would choose the ATR or Rupert's Land any day!

[Skidz]

I've used the ATR and a conventional runner (can't remember the brand). The ATR works well as long as you keep it clean. I found it to be the easiest for a newbie. Don't have to worry about knocking down cones. If visibility isn't too good, you just stomp around a little and you eventually pick up the ball. Keep a crate of WD40 on hand...

[Golden_pilot]

ATR is a POS, springs in the gates always break or get weak and wont fully close, you have to tap twice on the ball to make sure you have it, magnets always get covered, the rod some times doesn't slide all the way down so the magnets don't always come all the way out, the rod breaks, it has two release levers which seem to screw up all the time, and it's a heavy. I could go on about the problems with it. Basically there are too many moving parts.

 

Once you learn how to use the MR T or Rupert's land you will never want to use another picker. You can tip the cone over flip it back, if the pin falls out you can hit the cone away from the bag to pull the pin back in. There is only on set of gates to worry about. The MR T has a pivot system on the legs which works awesome for uneven ground.

 

Pin and cone system is a lot less maintenance and are way faster hands down.

[Skywork]

Thanks.I have had absolutely no experience using bagrunners so i will be making a decision on what one to buy from advice from you guys so please keep the comments coming.

[Wildrose]

Rupert's land runner hands down. But I agree that the All Terrain Runner is good if your shaky on a line and worried about knocking over cones. Still a POS though. Lol.

 

The ATR is a beast when your comparing weights. It may limit you on an extra bag(s) depending on your airframe.

 

Besides those maybe if your starting out you can get a guy running on the ground and hooking to your carousel to start.

[sirlandsalot]

I vote Mr. T first, and Ruperts land a close second just need take care of it, just like all ops gear and every other bag runner on the market, preventative maintenance. morning sprays of WD40 or what ever you use.

[J-Rock]

Mr. T! It's light, simple, and looks the best... very important since you have to stare at them all day.

[CharlieBrown]

First off, helicopter companies don't supply bagrunners, we have no controll over what gear (bags and pins) the seismic company uses. The seismic company will supply the bagrunner! The helicopter company supplies the carousel. Secondly, any pilot that has done seismic for any length of time curses the magnetic pos. It works fine when it works, however there are too many moving parts and rarely do they function properly. It is also difficult to swing back to front without first bringing bags back to staging and using the carousel to layout. The ruperts land would be my second choice, it is lighter than an ATR but heavier than a Mr T. It is easier to manipulate on the ground because the legs touch first allowing it to pivot nicely, however one has to be carefull when picking bags near the tip of the hood and to make sure the bagrunner goes down completly on the cone because the gates on a ruperts land are spring loaded and can pinch the pin and cause a pin out. The Ruperts Land also laysout bags nicely so you can swing back to front without going to staging, the only thing you have to watch for is accidentaly hitting the longline release will cause a bag to fall off in flight. The Mr T is usually regarded as the best, its light, it hangs level relatively to the rupertsland so it's a little more difficult to manipulate of the ground but it is easier to one time cones, it's hood is shallow and the gates are held down by gravity so it has very few pin outs. The Mr T won't release bags unless the tension on the lanyard is less than 40 pounds, so theoretically you can't air drop bags even if you accidentally hit the release button. It also laysout bags nicely and is the easiest bagrunner to swing back to front because the Mr T is so light that tension on the longline will untwist the lanyards allowing you to pick bags and not tangle the lanyards up making it easy to layout without hangups. The Mr T isn't without it's own faults though, if you try to pick a cone at the back of the hood and the pin is aft of the hood, you will have a pin out. It also requires more amperage to release bags, so aircraft must be fitted with the 50 amp relay. I'm sorry to harp on this but the guy that said he's moved 5000 channels is out to lunch, 5000 channels with a minimum 6 channels per bag is less than 1000 bags when rolling 250 bags a day 125 picked thats 8 days experience with this bagrunner. Hands down Mr T