(piano music)

(helicopter flying)

[Narrator] If you have a Christmas tree

in your house this year,

it got there by a route that

would make Santa Claus proud.

Because, for a few seconds at least,

it probably flew on a helicopter.

(cheerful instrumental music)

Here's the thing for

about 11 months out of the year,

Christmas tree farmers in the Pacific Northwest grow trees.

Upwards of eight million of them.

But, in November they harvest.

And, speed is of the essence.

So, most of those farms rely on air support.

The dangers of flying the Christmas trees are,

you're flying at a high speed,

and you're low to the ground.

If you were to have a major problem,

you don't have a lot of time to react.

You're going to be on the ground

before you know it.

[Narrator] The trees often grow too close together

and on terrain too hilly and too muddy

for a truck to get to them.

So crews cut the trees down,

but getting them from the farm to the road,

requires the deft touch of a skilled helicopter pilot.

You got one right down here,

we're flying over it right now.

[Narrator] When the rhythm's right,

a pilot can move 600 pounds of trees

every 40 seconds.

It's not easy.

Long-lining, as the pilots call it,

requires special training

in the ability to control the craft

who's weight gains or loses a quarter ton

in an instant.

So, they don't fly the helicopter,

so much as fly the hook,

dangling about a hundred feet below

on a thin woven line of Kevlar.

A lot of pilots that first start out,

they don't realize how difficult

it is until they get up there

and try it for themselves.

[Narrator] The real hero here is momentum.

The pilot decelerates, the hook swings forward,

and by the time it drops in the hands

of the guys crewing the trucks or the trees,

the heath is already on its way back

to the other end of the course.

If they miss,

the heath'll have to come around for another pass.

But, when it works,

somebody's Christmas gets merrier with every flight.

(cheerful instrumental music)

(swoosh)