FALCONER HOLDS FIREFIGHTING EVENT

Argentinian Firefighting company Falconer held their first-ever aerial firefighting event in May of 2022 in Argentina that saw one hundred attendees, of which roughly thirty were pilots attend this part educational, part exhibition event that included attendees and exhibitors from Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay as well as local attendees from Argentina.

The educational piece of the event centered around the education and certification of new firefighting pilots provided by Argentinian aviation authority ANAC through theoretical instruction and testing provided at the event. During the event, an aerial demonstration was held using an AT-502B that performed several salvo’s to demonstrate the use of Chemical retardants and Foam loaded from “onion” tanks supplied by local company Rappachiani in addition to retardants and foam products provided by Nova Laboratories which supplies products in Argentina.

“We’re very proud to hold such an event sharing it with so many friends and colleagues”.- Roberto Tomassoni.

Global wildfire asset tracking and communications company TracPlus announced the release of their next-generation Common Operating Platform TracPlus Cloud in May in addition to gaining U.S. Forest Service approval for the company’s AFDAU-T1.

The TracPlus Cloud Common Operating Platform provides critical operators with an off-the-shelf solution that ties together operational information from multiple asset types and multiple communication channels to enable responding agencies to make faster, more informed decisions.

TracPlus CEO Tim Lynskey says he’s proud of this milestone delivery for TracPlus and excited for the increased organizational safety TracPlus Cloud delivers.

“Through having our devices and software installed on some of the best emergency response assets around the world, TracPlus has been present at virtually every major disaster response globally in the past five years.

“We tie multiple data streams and asset types into a single view of the truth for mission-critical operations and deliver situational awareness to operators, irrespective of who owns the asset, what the asset is, who provides the tracking, or what the platform or signal type is — be it radio, cellular or satellite.

“We’re now able to roll out this powerful, cloud-based platform that traditionally was only available for large agencies and allow organisations of all sizes to track, manage, monitor, and message their personnel and resources, including land, maritime, and aviation assets, to keep crews safe, conserve resources, and maximize coordinated efforts,” says Mr Lynskey.

In addition to the cloud product, TracPlus also achieved U.S. Forest Service compliance with the AFDAU-T1, for aerial firefighting, completing requirements for compliance for the new US Forest Service for event data in early June. The update enables all Aerial Firefighting Data Acquisition Unit (AFDAU) units already installed in aircraft to meet compliance specifications.

AFDAU-T1 lead engineer, Zane Vohland, says that with the increase in demand for real-time telemetry in contracts issued by aerial firefighting agencies, the AFDAU-T1’s new compliance is a huge win for operators in the United States. “It’s clear that ATU requirements are becoming more prevalent in US aerial firefighting contracts. As these requirements make their way from VLATs and type 1 helicopters into smaller aircraft, we are seeing orders from operators who are looking for a turnkey solution that enables them to stay compliant.”

“Due to the dynamic nature of firefighting operations, it’s not unusual to see errors in the types of event data coming off ATUs. These typically occur on take-off and landing events, engine on and off events, and inaccurate recordings for fill, drop, and volume events.

“The AFDAU-T1 however leverages a proprietary ‘smart algorithm’ to detect aerial firefighting events with unparalleled fidelity.

Through extensive R&D and close partnerships with some of Australia’s key fixed-wing and helicopter firefighting operators, TracPlus has developed a large and comprehensive dataset of aerial firefighting operations and expanded our expertise in the field, to deliver, in the AFDAU-T1,” says Zane.

In addition to the US Forest Service compliance, Airborne Mission Systems, the makers of the AFDAU, has also developed a diagnostic tool which allows avionics engineers to quickly identify and rectify any communication issues (wiring, connections etc) between another device and the AFDAU at the point of install. This has the potential to save thousands of dollars of time both on the ground and in the air trying to troubleshoot installation issues.

by Heather Metzler

My grandpa always said, “You’ll get there quicker if you don’t stop by the hospital on the way.” When he told me that, I was a new driver. I was also a new pilot. I was fortunate to solo a car and an airplane on my 16th birthday. But for me, the 14 mile drive from my home to the airport and back was the most terrifying part of that day. Flying the airplane was easy! So why after 32 years of experience as an ATP, flight instructor, FAA Operations Inspector, and FAA Safety Team Program Manager, do I still think that flying the airplane was the easy part? For starters, when I was flying the airplane that day on my solo, I didn’t have to “get there” or anywhere for that matter. Driving to the airport though, I had to get there. Of course, as a young inexperienced driver, I did the speed limit, made sure I made a complete stop at stop signs, and did all the stuff you do (or should do) when you are a new driver. All of the decisions I made while driving were mine, like how fast to go, can I pass that car, should I pass that car, which way do I need to go next, etc. That is a lot to think about when you are a new driver. The good news is that I left early so I wasn’t in a hurry, keeping in line with grandpa’s advice.

After safely arriving at the airport, it was time to go fly! My instructor and I went around the patch a few times and then made a full stop. He hopped out, signed my logbook, and told me to make three takeoff and landings to a full stop. Sure, I was nervous, but I had so much more training for this than I did for driving the car. And besides, there was no traffic. Plus, I had my instructor saying to go fly, so it must have been safe. I successfully soloed that day and cheerfully rejoiced after I taxied in.

Years later, when visiting with that same instructor, now as fellow instructor pilots, I realized the incredible pressure that he must have felt that day, as well as all the decisions made leading up to that point. First, he had to get me ready to solo on my 16th birthday, no pressure there! Next, my birthday is in December, and in Arkansas, the weather this time of year can be anything from sunny to foggy. I was lucky that it was overcast, but not so low that I couldn’t make my flight. Finally, he flew with me that day to make sure I was ready and let me go solo. I never thought of all the decisions he had to make that day. I was just happy I survived the drive to the airport. When we start out as pilots, we depend on our instructors to help us make go/no-go decisions. Eventually, they help us with making those decisions on our own. But do we really ever get to the point where we are the only one making a go/ no-go decision? I hope not. Just like grandpa’s sage advice, we need to make sure how we don’t stop by the hospital, or worse the funeral home, on the way to where we’re going.

One way to “get there” both quickly and safely, is to have a safety system for making decisions. You probably already have a safety system that you use without even knowing it. Think back to the last pilot-related decision that you made and how you came to that decision. You can take this look back to another level by evaluating the decision that you made to determine if it was good, bad, or a learning opportunity. If you have a process that allows you to look back at a decision, determine how you made that decision, and evaluate the outcome of your decision, congratulations - you have a safety system! Your safety system is the tool that gets you there without stopping at the hospital. But how do you keep a safety system ready to use and in good condition? Try taking it to a flight instructor. Let them look at your safety system tool and evaluate if it is in good shape or in need of a few adjustments. The flight instructor can also evaluate your pilot skills at the same time. Not a bad deal!

As I mentioned earlier, good decision-making is a critical part of your safety system too. Let’s say you are making a flight from point A to point B and after completing your self-briefing (see AC 91-92 Pilot’s Guide to a Preflight Briefing), and you are unsure about the weather. That is an easy one; a best practice is to call an experienced pilot friend and talk about the weather. But what if the weather on that same trip after you have completed your self-briefing and the weather looks good to you? Do you still do that best practice and call an experienced pilot friend to see what they think about the weather? Before you answer that, consider how an airline pilot going on a routine flight with good weather still talks to the aircraft crew and to dispatch about the weather, and then briefs the passengers so everyone knows about the weather. Going back to our question, do you call your experienced pilot friend to discuss the weather after completing your self-brief? Absolutely. They may see something coming your way on a beautiful day that you didn’t consider. When you only self-brief, you have a greater chance of missing something that could ruin your day. It‘s best to always have all of the information you need for the flight. 14 CFR 91.103 requires it.

Story by Ryan Mason

Photos by Ryan Mason and Steve Nelson

CO Fire Aviation held their annual company training at the end of April 2022 at their facility at the Fort Morgan Municipal Airport, where the company and its subsidiaries, Gold Aero and Scott Aviation, are based.

The company training began on Monday, April 25th, through May 3rd, 2022, consisting of multiple training modules across the entire spectrum of air attack, initial attack, and ground and maintenance staff.

The first two days of training begin in the classroom for CO Fire attendees, covering topics from field inspections and search and rescue to mental health, first aid and survival techniques, SMS, avionics, and weight and balance before moving on to sand table exercises.

CO Fire staff, having completed this training evolution for many years running now, have the week events planned down to the last minute, which includes full catering for lunch and dinner each day, which all staff regroups for after splitting into several groups to complete one of the many training topics being given simultaneously throughout the week.

The third day of the training is handed over to Anchor Flank & Pinch training for sand table training exercises. For CO Fire President Kyle Scott, this is an essential part of their yearly training exercise.

“You can take a sand table and create different scenarios on the ground and then do many different pieces of training with it. You can do everything from fire behavior to fire traffic areas. You can break them down into each aspect of a firefight. For instance, where will you start if you showed up with your 802 and a wingman (second aircraft)? What are you going to do? After you run through a few things like that, you can combine them all and use the sand table just like when we do our flying sim, this is kind of a warm-up exercise for that.”

Sand table excercises were a critical part of CO Fire Aviation’s training during their week of training in April 2022.

During day three of the training, CO Fire also involves their stakeholders in training, showing all stakeholders through each training piece and allowing them to experience what the pilots do in the training environment. This year’s stakeholders included representatives from AssuredPartners Insurance, County and State Government, along with representatives from the USFS and local sheriff’s office, among others that spent a day or more seeing the training offering for themselves and seeing the effort put into keeping pilots and ground staff safe each year.

Another addition to the team training this year was the addition of Virtual Reality simulation labs provided by Becker Support Services, LLC. The VR training experience has matured over the last several years from a basic idea from owner Ryan Becker that was seen and investigated by CO Fire in 2021 to a fully-fledged training simulation that remotely involved the US Air Force MAFFS crews and lead planes working in a sim lab in Idaho, along with the CO Fire Aviation team working from their base in Fort Morgan, Colorado. ➤

Left: Upset recovery training was performed throughout the week of training with all operational pilots working for CO Fire Aviation.

Right: Gold Aero aircraft were included in the annual training event for the first time after owners Kyle Scott and Chris Doyle purchased the company in 2020.

“Sims allows us to practice many things before going out and flying. You can also train on fire behavior. Becker has a setup that can show real-world fires, how they progressed, and how things went. You can load into their scenarios, so you can fight some of those fires that maybe didn’t go the way they thought they would. It’s fascinating, and I liked that. The potential, especially for new guys, is that it’s another way to drill them on the radio comms, but also being descriptive and getting a feel before the real thing.” Kyle says, “We see this as taking the sand table to another level.”

What resulted was a full-blown fire response that you could watch play out on a screen at the training location, with speakers calling out the ATC and air attack of an actual fire response as crews from multiple locations around the country simultaneously fought a virtual fire with C-130’s, lead planes, SEAT’s and air attack, all using VR goggles, joysticks, computers, and LAN connections. To say it was an impressive sight to see this play out in real-time would be an understatement, as technology has evolved for the better regarding aerial firefighting training. This year also saw the addition of Gold Aero, a company providing air attack services to the CO Fire training operation. Gold Aero (bought in 2020 by Scott and Chris Doyle), although operating on a separate 135 certificate and still having independent training, now participates in the annual CO Fire training event, adding to the realism of the actual training evolutions done in the aircraft in the latter days of the training event.

While flying sims were being conducted, CO Fire pilots were also being put through their paces in upset recovery training in a company-owned Gamebird GB-1 aircraft throughout the several check rides completed in the final days of training.

“Be it a GameBird or an Extra 300 or even a Decathlon; any aerobatic capable airplane is good to conduct upset recovery work with. Of course, the GameBird handles better than an Air Tractor does. But the GameBird is an excellent demonstrator for loss of control scenarios. We borrow a lot from the Wayne Handley Air Tractor video and course Chris and I both attended years ago. We allow the guys to see

what happens when you turn it in hard and you’re stepping on the rudder or pulling back too hard. It gives them a chance in a controlled environment to see what happens if you’re coming in in a bit of a slip and then stall the wings and how to avoid those mistakes safely. It’s hard to beat a GameBird”, said Kyle.

Flying during training was conducted with four CO Fire AT802s in addition to the GameBird flying upset recovery, along with two Gold Aero Twin Commanders flying in the air attack role throughout the training scenarios that were at times challenged by Colorado’s unpredictable weather patterns, causing some delays on Friday and Saturday thanks to storm fronts and at times gusting winds between 50-70 knots that forced operations to be halted several times.

In all, twenty firefighter pilots were put through their paces during the physical training evolutions held on private land about 20 miles from the CO Fire base, performing several drops with coordination that involved real-world communication with ground assets, air attack, and ATC when required, which offers as much realism as possible for each pilot when given their drop tasking for each pass, just as they would be in a real fire. ➤

Simulated aerial firefighting scenarios were played out in real time during training that also involved crews training from the US Air Force in Idaho that all connected virtually thanks to the system developed by Ryan Becker (pictured right.)

Maintainers, tender operators, ground staff and external agencies were all included in CO Fire’s training.

“Typically with new guys, training starts with the basics, right? So we have them drop some water on the field first to build them up to the point where they can participate in the simulations.”

The flying portion of the training also offers the ground staff, some of who are new, the chance to apply what they have learned, giving ground handlers the experience of loading the aircraft on the ramp and operating their trailers. These aspects are part of a well-oiled and smooth operation on the ground when a fire starts. CO Fire takes seriously enough to involve every single one of their staff, some even flying in from as far as Australia to attend annual training.

Looking forward to the next training event, Scott stated that there would be a few changes, mostly to do with the days the training is held. According to Scott, the weather will always play a part in Colorado, so there is no perfect solution to the time of year for the training. However, he conceded that the training would likely start on a Thursday or Friday next year to accommodate the government inspectors being able to attend part of the training before check rides. The weather disruptions pushing some of the flying portions into the weekend did cause a slight hiccup that the schedule change will rectify.

As a firefighting operation that often has staff and aircraft scattered around the country, CO Fire did an admirable job conducting training this year, especially with the weather issues encountered and overcome. The addition of VR simulation into the annual training offering for CO Fire is no doubt an asset to their already robust training program, and likely just the tip of the iceberg on training enhancements as the company continues to look for newer and better ways to conduct training that will offer the best for their pilots’ safe operation throughout this and many more fire seasons.