Ground Crews
Without a mirror, the ideal team on the ground consists of at least three handlers at every point of pickup or deposit, so, in a simple lift from A to B, you need six, although this could be reduced with decent communications. All procedures given here are based on the assumption that they are not available, but things will go so much better if they are—just make sure that any instructions given don’t require acknowledgement, as you will not only have your hands full, but it’s also easy to hit the load release button when moving your hand to transmit. Actually, that goes both ways; very often both hands are needed by the loaders, so they put their radios in their pockets and can’t hear them, which is why having them in helmets is recommended.

One person would be for marshalling and the remainder for hooking up, etc. However, in remote areas, you will likely be operating by yourself, including picking up the load, which may mean continual shutting down, etc. Expense is not actually the reason, although it helps; in the Arctic, for example, you don’t leave somebody by themselves in case you can’t get back, but, in general, you are dropping stuff off where you can’t put people anyway. It’s not as hazardous as it sounds – you just need to be far enough behind the load to stretch the line properly, with no kinks, and make sure it’s straight, so it’s away from the landing gear when you lift into the hover. However, don’t attempt anything alone without a mirror.
Ground crews should dress appropriately – the downwash will cause severe chill factors.

Equipment
There should be as many ropes, strops, nets and hooks that can be made available, as more will always be required than you think. Steel slings are best, though ordinary rope will do, provided it doesn't have a tendency to stretch or bounce up if it breaks (for this reason, don’t use nylon lanyards). At the very least, you need one set of slings at each drop-off point, so while the first load is being undone you can be on your way back with one and not waste flying time (when logging, a smaller helicopter is used for this job). All equipment should be able to withstand 6 times the anticipated load because flight conditions may increase its weight artificially. You can work out a rule of thumb SWL (Safe Working Load) for wire ropes in tons with this formula: