That helicopter, the Hughes Model 369, is one of the safest helicopters ever built. This one has extended landing gear installed to add more distance for rotor clearance. With a good pilot what they are doing is not much of a problem. One pilot called the 369 a flying Porsche.

As safe as can be because they used two safety lanyards...

It appears the workers were always tied off in this video. They had to disconnect one lanyard from the helicopter or wire while transferring from the helicopter to the wire and vice versa.

If they only had one lanyard on their safety harness, they would have momentarily had no fall protection while they connected to the wire or helicopter as they transferred between the two.

I know. An OSHA Inspector watched one of my crews for 3 full days while working on a scaffold they accessed with a boatsaiwn's chair insisting something was wrong with the scaffold. There wasn't an issue with the scaffold, BUT I got the "I got you" call from the inspector when he figured it out.

For the 1 or 2 seconds the workers disconnected from the boatswain's chair lifeline to that for the scaffold, they had no fall protection.

A $5,000 lesson to me. The employees each had 2 lanyards, they just didn't use them as instructed, and I didn't watch them every minute. FYI, The employer pays the fine, and gets a "record" not the employees.

Anyway, if the helicopter in this video had a catastrophic mechanical failure or the pilot f***ed up, the fall protection is irrelevant.

I will never complain about my work again.