BKL flying high: Construction crane assembly with helicopter at 2,300 metres.

Munich, 03 July 2025 – Sleet in May, a tight schedule and a construction site that could not be reached by vehicle at around 2,300 metres above sea level: extraordinary conditions even for the experienced crane specialists from BKL Baukran Logistik GmbH. In the impassable terrain of the Austrian Alps, the team from BKL Munich assembled a Sáez tower crane – by helicopter. The crane will support the construction of a new mountain station in Ischgl until the start of the winter season. There was only a short time slot to set up the crane after the ski season ended before rising temperatures made helicopter operations impossible. The flights were affected not only by the weather conditions, but also by the altitude-related limitation of the load capacity to 3.2 tonnes.

The matching crane and smart planning.

With the 130 tonne-metres crane TLS 60 14, BKL has the best-fit solution in its rental fleet: powerful yet modular and light enough to be airlifted to the site by helicopter. To transport the crane parts to the place of departure, the crane logistic specialists used several trucks with shortened trailers to safely navigate the narrow mountain roads. After arriving the BKL team prepared the crane components, ready to be quickly attached and flown by helicopter to the construction site the following day.

To ensure highly efficient assembly, the crane experts came up with unconventional solutions right from the planning phase: they deliberately configured the crane without a cabin and removed other non-essential components to save weight and helicopter hours. They also weighed and marked each component in advance to ensure a smooth process. At the construction site, the BKL service engineers secured the crossbase on a pre-concreted surface to save heavy base ballast. To enable the tower sections to be flown in closely timed sets, they were first set up and partially bolted together. The final bolting was done in the flight breaks.

Efficiently assembled with only 15 flights.

Despite adverse weather conditions and a flight break of several hours due to dense fog, the BKL team managed to complete the construction crane assembly within one day and with only 15 flights, thus fulfilling the requirement of the customer, Silvrettaseilbahn AG.

Thanks to well thought-out planning, optimum preparation and experienced execution, the top-slewing crane, which has a radius of 25 metres and a hook height of around 21 metres, is ready for the lifting work required to build a new cable car station in time for the next ski season in the well-known winter sports region.