How Did They Fix That?

The Erickson S64 Air Crane is one of the biggest, most durable, and most versatile helicopters in the world; it's also the only bird capable of pulling off this specialized heli-logging operation in the Pacific Northwest. Over six weeks, the chopper needs to haul 48,000 tons of hemlock, fir, and cedar trees out of the forest and off to the mill. But in order to meet their quota and earn their $14 million payday, pilots, mechanics, and engineers must battle the elements and make emergency repairs that threaten to bring the mission to a halt.

Host Mike Davidson is crisscrossing the rails across Eastern Europe on a 24/7 cargo operation powered by Soviet era locos. The mission: to transport potash—a potassium rich fertilizer—to massive ships, which in turn will deliver the cargo to over 100 countries worldwide. This is a multimillion-dollar business, and the pressure is intense to keep the trains moving... even when there are problems. Thankfully, there are resilient crews that keep this rail network and locomotives running, no matter how big the challenges are.

Trains may seem old fashioned, but they still make the world's economy go, and SBB Cargo International is one of Europe's busiest haulers. Host Mike Davidson joins a freight run carrying a million-dollar payload, from a busy container yard in Italy, though the Alps of Switzerland, across a labyrinth of tracks in Germany, to the Port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands. Along the way, he'll follow locomotive drivers, maintenance crews, and engineers working around the clock to keep everything rolling on a route that throws challenges at every turn.