A small Westside neighborhood crowd gathered at 16th Street and Jefferson Sunday morning to watch a Sikorsky S-64 Skycrane remove the largest of the four "Sky Station" sculptures atop Bartle Hall in Kansas City.
The 40-foot tall, 35-foot-wide, 24,000-pound aluminum sculpture was damaged by a lightning strike earlier this year. Kansas City-based A. Zahner Company will complete the estimated $1.3 million repair, and it is expected to be back in place by September.
Agri Aytar lives a block away and he said the roar of the helicopter sent him running to get a better view.
“It’s a distinctive sound,” Aytar said with a grin. “I was in bed and heard the sound of turbines at full bore. It’s perfect weather for doing a heli-lift. That’s what they call it.”
In less than half an hour, the event was over. As the helicopter dropped off the sculpture and flew away, Aytar said he envied the iron workers’ view on such a perfect day. Aytar said he’d seen that view himself when he climbed to the top of the Bartle Hall pylons while working on a television show pilot with the artist Stretch Rumaner back in in 2007.
“It’s a long climb,” said Aytar. “It’s exhilarating, especially when you get up to the top and pull the hatch back and there is all of downtown just looking at you. That's how the ironworkers got up there this morning. It’s just an amazing view up there.”
Julie Denesha is a freelance photographer and reporter for KCUR. Follow her @juliedenesha.
