It starts with the familiar sound of an obvious helicopter above your house, then the confusion sets in. Why isn't this sound going away?

A helicopter flying approximately 60 feet off the ground was in the air just outside of my work in Pittsfield, Massachusetts on Thursday. He was flying so low I thought he was in distress at one point as the helicopter appeared to be struggling to maintain stability.

I was wrong, however. Everything was just fine.

As you can see in the photograph below, there is some sort of massive cable attached to the helicopter.

Why Was This Helicopter Flying So Low, And What Is That Long Cable Attached?

Aerial trimming is the job that is being done.

An aerial saw is a saw which is flown through the air. The aerial saw may also be known as a helicopter aerial saw.

Large aerial saws are flown by helicopter to trim trees in remote locations when they overgrow power lines, pipelines or other infrastructure -wikipedia

The Saw Blades

In the above photos you can see there are ten aerial saw blades attached to the line hanging from the helicopter.

With the amount of rain this summer in the Northeast, the volume of brush and overgrow can be problematic.

Companies such as Eversource (electric) or CSX (rail) can hire crews to address these issues.

Trees along railroad tracks are also trimmed by aerial saws dangling from these helicopters.