June 2015 - California Fire Pilots Association
Transcription
June 2015 - California Fire Pilots Association
The California Fire Pilots Association newsletter (Paso Robles, june 2015, photo Anouck le Bris) News Roster 2015 Safety : Drones Zadar AFF conference P-3 airtankers (Tanker 00 drop , Photo US Forest Service) N°1/2015 >June 2015 20 15 Ju ne . CFPA NEWS NEWS A 23rd Tracker for Cal fire A Editor says… 2015. Ladies and gentlemen, As we all know, in California Season 2015 started surprisingly early(again!) and promises to be a long and busy one. Don’t stay thirsty my friends… hydrate! Watch for Drones in and out of the FTA! I feel there will be more incidents… If you would like to contribute to our Newsletters with articles, stories, photos, videos or suggest interesting links, please do. Articles: on a Word.doc (NO PDF file please…) Photos : JPG Original size preferably or size 2400 pix mini with your name in the file for credit. fter last year's loss, with Geoffrey "Craig" Hunt and Tanker 81, Cal Fire is exploring the solution to contract Dyncorp for modifying another S-2T Airtanker. This airplane will be tanked and should be ready for 2016 season at Dyncorp facilities in Sacramento Mc Clellan airport. Cal Fire owns STCs used before by Marsh Aerospace to build Cal Fire tankers on S-2E/G airframe basis. It's very difficult to find a better initial attack platform and Cal Fire Tanker fleet will be back to 23 S-2T's. photo Cyril DEFEVER NEWS by Jerome Laval Two Large Airtankers on Contract in California Please print the Newsletter and share it around. Regards, C al Fire has two Large Airtankers on contract for 2015, one DC-7 (Aero Air) based in june at Paso Robles, now at Chico and a P2V, Tanker12 from Neptune Aviation, based at Paso Robles. Jerome T85 2015 Tanker Trainees : Tom Voorhees, Cynthia Anderson Good luck! Have a good training. Good info Links : http://www.wildlandfire.com/ http://fireaviation.com/ Editor : Jerome Laval. Redaction and graphic design : Cyril Defever & Frédéric Marsaly Please forward your pictures and articles to: e-mail : [email protected] 2 Photo Anouck le Bris CFPA news June 2015 3 Super Tanker re-starts ? William Hilts A Conair AT-802F crashed on May 22nd near Cold Lake, Alberta, while fighting a fire. William Hilts, 37, lost his life in this accident. Thanks for keeping William and his family in your thoughts. Contact Conair to send condolences. http://conair.ca/ NEWS by Frédéric Marsaly After the Evergreen shut down in december 2013, Supertanker was stored in Marana (AZ) waiting for its fate. But the story may be not be finished. A new company was created called “Global Airtanker Services”. Their aim is to buy the old Supertanker pressurized tank system and move it to a Boeing 747-400. As the dash 400 is more modern than 747-100, its maintenance is easier and operational costs are lower even in term of fuel consumption. Public Relations drop at Chateauroux, 2009 photo Cyril DEFEVER 10 years of service for French Q400MR and 20 years for CL-415 In June, French Agency Sécurité Civile celebrated two anniversaries. The first was the celebration of 20 years of CL-415 water scooper as France was the first customer for this turbinized new version of Canadair aircraft. A flight was organized with CL-415 and France’s Air Force aerobatic team “Patrouille de France” for photographic purpose and later a impressive “scoop and drop” with 11 CL-415 (9 from Sécurité Civile, 1 from Italy and 1 from Spain) took place over Etang de Berre, close to Marseille Airport were French water bombers are based. The following week, Sécurité Civile technical team unveiled the NEWS by Frédéric Marsaly The “New” Tanker 910 F photo Alex Dubath Q400MR number 73 with a special commemorative scheme showing a Kite on the tail fin to mark the 10th year of Q400MR Tanker operations in France. The Kite is called “Milan” in French, and Milan is the callsign of fire bombers Q400MR. lying as a fire bomber since 2004, the DC-10-10 N450AX, msn 46942 was ferried to be scrapped. Its tank was fitted to DC-1030 N612AX msn 48290 which became the “New” Tanker 910. According to Rick Hatton, CEO of 10 Tanker: “the name Tanker 910 is like a trademark of our company so we were not ready to give up this name.” At its retirement Tanker 910 got exactly 910 hours flying over fires in ten years. The company has some other DC-10-30 ready to be fitted with a tank. photo Dan Stijovich “We need to always have a Tanker additional to our contracts. Now we have two long term contracts with USFS, we have a third DC-10 as a spare or ready for another new contract. If we ever get another contract, it will not be for a Tanker 913 but for a Tanker 914” said Mr Hatton with a big smile. photo Alex Dubath 4 CFPA news June 2015 5 BASE TYPE ROHNERVILLE FOT REDDING RDD UKIAH UKI SANTA ROSA STS N number TAIL # CREW Start END GRASS VALLEY GOO COLUMBIA O22 HOLLISTER CVH PORTERVILLE PTV PASO ROBLES PRB HEMET HMT RAMONA RNM McCLELLAN MCC Relief Base Mech. Ron Goepfert OV10 N413DF A120 Jesse Jenks 6/1 10/15 Fri Lee Donham S2T N440DF T96 Erik Hakenen 6/1 10/15 Sun/Mon Jim Cook (12&2) OV10 N421DF A240 Del Schulte 4/27 10/15 Thu Lee Donham S2T N442DF T94 Tim Daly 4/27 10/15 Thu Jim Cook S2T N448DF T95 Jason Carter 6/1 10/15 Wed Jim Cook ASM OV10 N470DF A505 Rick Haagenson 5/11 10/15 Sat A200CT N461DF A503 Bob Coward 5/11 10/15 TBA OV10 N410DF A110 Bob Devinny 5/11 10/15 Sat Lee Donham S2T N434DF T90 Dan Rieger 5/11 10/15 Mon Bill Buckley S2T N428DF T91 John Butts 6/1 10/15 Tue Bill Buckley OV10 N414DF A140 Dean Talley 4/27 10/15 Wed Lee Donham S2T N433DF T85 Jerome Laval 6/1 10/15 Wed Bill Buckley S2T N438DF T86 Bob Valette 4/27 10/15 Thu Bill Buckley S2T Tanker Trainee* Cynthia Anderson 5/11 10/15 Thu Tanker Trainee CHICO CIC Day Off N402DF A210 Stef Kudar 5/11 10/15 Mon Jimmie Bryant S2T N450DF T93 Trevor Haagenson / John Kerpa 5/11 10/15 Sat Jim Barnes S2T-OV10 Reserve Pilot Gary Thomas 5/11 10/15 Sat/Sun 12 & 2 OV10 N408DF A230 Kirk Chaney 4/27 10/15 Sun Jimmie Bryant S2T N426DF T88 Colin Rogers 6/1 10/15 Sun Jim Barnes S2T N425DF T89 Joe Satrapa 4/27 10/15 Mon Jim Barnes OV10 N401DF A440 Jeff Sheftal 5/18 10/15 Sat Jimmie Bryant S2T N422DF T82 Rich Schlink 5/18 10/15 Thu Phil Johnston T83 Brian Combs 5/18 10/15 Wed Phil Johnston Tom Voorhees 5/18 10/15 Thu S2T N424DF Tanker Trainee* S2T Tanker Trainee OV10 N415DF Jon Sortomme Mon Arvin Guico Thu Toby Anderson Tue Thu OV10 S2T Tue Bill Burnard Sun Ed Lamanna Sat Mike Silva Fri Kim Myers Sun Butch Hall Fri Thu A460 John Schaures 4/27 10/31 Fri Jimmie Bryant S2T N445DF T80 Jim Ferreira 4/27 10/31 Thu Vito Orlandella OV10 N400DF A410 Henry Fierro 4/13 10/31 Tue Chris McGuire S2T N431DF T76 Brad Baker 4/13 10/31 Tue Phil Johnston S2T N436DF T78 Cameron Douglas 4/14 10/31 Mon Phil Johnston OV10 N418DF A340 Mark Donnelly 4/13 10/31 Mon Chris McGuire S2T N439DF T74 Anne Le Bris 4/14 10/31 Tue Vito Orlandella S2T N444DF T75 Bob Pixton 4/13 10/31 Mon Vito Orlandella A200CT N463DF A504 Todd Deline 5/11 10/31 Sat OV10 N429DF A310 Lynn Flock 3/26 11/30 Wed Chris McGuire S2T N435DF T72 Deen Oehl 3/26 11/30 Mon Bob Forbes S2T N437DF T73 Mike Venable 3/26 11/30 Sun Bob Forbes OV10 N409DF A330 Jason Vogt 3/26 11/30 Thu Chris McGuire S2T N427DF T70 Billy Hoskins 3/26 11/30 Sat Bob Forbes T71 Doug Baker 3/26 11/30 Fri Bob Forbes Dave Kelly 5/11 10/15 Sat/Sun 12 & 2 S2T N432DF S2T-OV10 Reserve Pilot S2T N441DF T100 SPARE Airtankler LEAD OV10 N403DF A500 SPARE Air Tactical LEAD Frank Vasquez Wed Travis Bailey/ John Burnett (Prado) Wed/Fri Rick Schondel Mon Chuck Lees Todd Deline RELIEF PILOT TYPE BASES COVERED START END DAY OFF Lee Donham OV10 STS-RDD-FOT-UKI 5/5 10/15 Mon Jimmie Bryant OV10 CVH-O22-GOO-CIC 4/27 10/31 Wed Chris McGuire OV10 PRB-PTV-HMT-RNM 4/14 11/30 Sat Jim Cook S2T RDD-FOT 4/27 10/15 Thur/Fri Bill Buckley S2T UKI-STS 4/27 10/15 Sat Jim Barnes S2T CIC-GOO 4/27 10/15 Wed Phil Johnston S2T PTV-O22 4/13 10/31 Sat Vito Orlandella S2T PRB-CVH 4/13 10/31 Sat Bob Forbes S2T HMT-RNM 3/26 11/30 Wed 12 & 2 *NOTE: Air tanker trainees will be required to train at several bases throughout the fire season-a separate schedule will be provided June 2015 7 OAS-25A (12/12) No. IASA 15-01 Interagency Aviation Date: July 1, 2015 Page 1 of 2 Mitigate the risk- consider the following: o Suspend air operations if the situation warrants. o Divert aircraft to alternate areas on the incident or another incident. o Hold aircraft at an alternate location and altitude. o Brief ground crews on any modification to air operations. o Request a TFR if one is not already in place. Investigate the intrusion. o Try to safely establish and maintain visual contact with the drone or the person operating it. o Coordinate with the FAA and local law enforcement to establish contact with the drone operator. See link below for FAA guidance to law enforcement: https://www.faa.gov/uas/regulations_policies/media/FAA_UAS-PO_LEA_Guidance.pdf Report. o Incident personnel should file a SAFECOM and any other unusual occurrence reports required by their respective organizations. Be sure to clearly identify your mitigation to share the lessons learned and provide trending/tracking information. o Report the occurrence to the FAA at: http://www.faa.gov/contact/safety_hotline/ Subject: UAS Intrusions Impacting Incident Air Operations Area of Concern: Aviation Safety Distribution: All Aviation Operations Discussion: Last year, Interagency Safety Alert 14-03 highlighted emerging UAS hazards that pose significant potential to interfere with our mission. Commercial and recreational UAS operations have increased dramatically and this trend is expected to continue. This year, unauthorized UAS intrusions have already adversely affected incident flight operations. The increasing emergence of these threats makes it imperative that incident personnel anticipate these encounters and establish procedures to manage UAS intrusions. FAA Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFRs) prohibit non-participating aircraft from entering a TFR. Unlike incident aircraft pilots, most civil UAS operators are completely unaware of the requirements for operating within or near an incident. Incident personnel should expect and plan for these types of encounters by establishing a process to manage them. Established procedures provide the greatest capability to expeditiously mitigate this threat as much as possible. Here are a few tips to get you started: Educate the public in the affected area: o Forest/Unit Aviation Officers and/or Public Information Officers (PIOs) should reach out to local hobby stores/groups and the media to request their assistance in providing information on these types of issues and how the public can help. Identify the intrusion. Communicate the intrusion to aerial supervision, incoming/on-scene aircraft, ground personnel and dispatch. Be sure to follow-up with documenting it via https://www.safecom.gov. Assess the potential for a mid-air collision and the impact of the intrusion to incident operations. 8 Page 2 of 2 SAFETY ALERT No. IASA 15-01 Date: July 1, 2015 Incident operations personnel make risk-based decisions on every mission. The decision to conduct any mission depends on the assessment of a variety of risk factors including (but not limited to) wind, topography, and visibility. Mitigating risks associated with a UAS intrusion is no different. Every tactical situation is unique and respective plans/procedures may require modification based on those differences. Your number one defense is to be proactive and educate the public on what they don’t know. Complimentary to that is establishing procedures designed to manage it when it occurs. Implementing a TFR restricts non-participating aircraft and improves safety for flight crews and other incident personnel. Plan, Educate, Communicate, Report /s/ Keith C. Raley Chief, Aviation Safety & Program Evaluations DOI, Office of Aviation Services CFPA news June 2015 /s/ Gary Sterling Branch Chief, Aviation Safety Management Systems USDA Forest Service 9 Aerial Fire Fighting Europe 2015 Photo Franck Mée Frédéric Marsaly & Franck Mée Photo Frédéric Marsaly T he yearly Tangent Link 2015 Aerial Fire Fighting event took place in Zadar, a small Croatian city on the Adriatic Sea shores. This was not a random pick as the Croatian Air Force firefighting wing is based in the airfield North of the city, with its Bombardier 415s and Air Tractor AT-802Fs. All delegations were warmly welcomed at the Sportski Central Visnjik where all conferences took place. About 20 presentations were offered by speakers coming from Croatia, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Lebanon, Australia, Japan and Canada. The highlights were Operating water bombers over contamined aera (war in Croatia in the 90’s left many mine fields, a huge problem for ground firefighters that has also been a German concern since WW2; fires were also spreading in the Chernobyl area during the conferences and radioactive materials getting airborne were a source of concern for firemen working there), Coulson’s vision of next generation firefighting airtankers, and for more technical considerations fire flight simulations in relation with ShinMeiwa in Japan, and HUD developments for airtankers by Swedish aircraft manufacturer SAAB, these two bringing broader perspectives for the business. We also noticed Romanian proposal to use unmodified C-27Js and low-cost crates to occasionally drop water, a somewhat peculiar idea that could be a nice opportunity for countries which do not usually face extended fires and cannot afford a specialized firefighting fleet. On Thursday morning, a very interesting flying display was organized on Zadar Air Force. Two AT-802Fs (one classical ground based aircraft and one amphibian FireBoss) and one CL-415 from Croatian Air force demonstrated drops over small fires lighted for the display, while a Mil Mi-171 showed how to transport and bring back firefighters. The Spanish Air Force Gruppo 43 was also there with one of its CL-215Ts and Italian firefighters presented a CL-415 fitted with underwing application ramps which allows to use this plane for oil spill dispersion missions while keeping its firefighting capacity. On the ramp, some aircraft were presented by their crew: a French CL-415 from Sécurité Civile, two Air Tractor two seaters, one wheeled and one on floats, a Pilatus PC-9 from Croatian Air Force flying school also based in Zadar and a Bell 206 chopper. With about 200 delegates, guests and journalists, this event was rich and very interesting. Photo Frédéric Marsaly Photo Franck Mée 10 Photo Frédéric Marsaly CFPA news June 2015 11 International Aerial Fire Fighting “Walt Darran” Award Airtank'art Photo Frédéric Marsaly By Steve Whitby During the dinner event on April 29th, the second Walt Darran International Aerial Firefighting Award was presented to Philippe Bodino. This annuel Award acknowledges a significant contribution by an individual or organization to aerial firefighting. Colonel Philippe Bodino has been a French firefighter who was heavily involved in ground firefighting but was also an “officier aero” (ie, Air Tactical Group Supervisor, or ATGS). He was director of the French Fire Academy (Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Officiers de Sapeur-Pompiers) and led a group who wrote the manual for Sécurité Civile firefighters on how to manage aerial firefighting assets over incidents so that the aircraft could efficiently support ground troops. The award for Mr. Bodino was presented by Richard Alder, General Manager of the National Aerial Firefighting Centre (NAFC) in Australia. Mounted on the award is a model of Tanker 93, an S-2 flown by Mr. Darran when he was based at Chico, California. The Walt Darran International Aerial Firefighting Award is named after the late Walt Darran who was both a highly experienced airtanker pilot from California, USA, and a constant and passionate advocate for safety and improvement in the aerial firefighting industry. In 2014, the first award was presented to George Petterson, a former NTSB agent (see CFPA News, July 2014). 12 CFPA news Steve Whitby has done a tremendous number of tankers. You can contact Steve at : [email protected] June 2015 13 Aerostar, The P-3 Orion, which officially entered service in 1962, fortunately benefited from the experience of its civilian predecessor and quickly gave full satisfaction to the Navy. It became a true success with about 750 aircraft produced until 1995 and was used by more than twenty different air forces. With a generous autonomy, high top speed and heavy payload, the P-3 was ideally built for its mission. In the mid-80s, the US Navy replaced its early P-3As with more modern P-3Cs. P-3 Orion airtankers Part 1 F or over 20 years, Aero Union Company’s P-3 Orions formed the spearhead of US aerial firefighting assets. In July 2011, the story was abruptly terminated… Well, not quite as Frédéric Marsaly explains. In the mid-50s, Lockheed began producing a four-turboprop, medium-haul airliner capable of carrying 66 to 80 passengers in mixed-class configuration and allowing airlines to ensure rapid and frequent rotations on domestic routes. That aircraft, the Lockheed 188 Electra, was ▲Tanker 00 drops its load over a prescribed fire on Castle Rock Fire, ID in 2007 (Photo Kari Greer/NIFC) ▼Tanker 21 at Redding in August 1992 (Photo R. Francillon) 14 by Frédéric Marsaly noticeable for its high cruising speed of 350 knots. Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy was looking for a successor to the P-2 Neptune and launched a competition for a modern maritime patrol aircraft. Lockheed responded with a proposal for a model 188 derivative which won the contract and became the P-3 Orion. Unfortunately, the Electra was a dismal commercial failure. A series of design problems (propeller resonance, weak engine mounting, and wing flexing) resulted in midair disintegration. Two aircraft were lost before these deficiencies were identified and corrected. Two more aircraft crashed, one after a pilot error and the other after a bird strike on takeoff. Within two years, 261 people had lost their lives aboard the new airliner. Consequently, the 188 production ceased after the delivery of the 170th aircraft in early 1961. CFPA news In 1987, some companies, contractors for aerial firefighting missions with United States Forest Service, obtained an agreement to take over surplus military aircraft. Some chose C-130A Hercules but Aero Union Corp. (AUC), a company based in Chico, California, obtained a handful of recently retired P-3As stored in Arizona. Performance and capabilities which had made P-3s into great maritime patrol aircraft would be major assets for new airtankers The first two aircraft, Tanker 25 and 27, entered service for the 1990 fire season. Nicknamed “Aerostar,” they were fitted with an underbelly 3,000 US gal tank with doors, the same model as those produced by Aero Union for DC-6s. A third one, “Aerostar” Tanker 00, was ready in that fall. ▲Tanker 17 in Sacramento in 2014 (Photo Frédéric Marsaly) ▼Tanker 17's Flight deck (Photo Frédéric Marsaly) ▼A P-3 with its Lead Plane over Las Conchas fire NM in 2011 (Photo Kari Greer/US Forest Service) The next two, Tanker 23 and 24, were prepared for the 1991 season but sadly, on October 17th, while being ferried to Missoula airport in Montana, Tanker 24 crashed into a hill a few miles to its destination. The aircraft and its crew, Robert Shaw and John Sieglinger, were lost in the accident. June 2015 15 The last two aircraft of the original lot, Tanker 21 and 22, were respectively readied in 1992 and 1993. But, Tanker 21 was grounded the following year, some parts removed and its tank used on another tanker. Some parts were sold to foreign operators. After being rebuilt, Tanker 21 returned in service in 1998. Gradually, in-service aircraft had their "conventional" tanks with doors replaced by “constant flow” 3,000 US gal tanks. Developed and manufactured by Aero Union under the name RADS ▲3.000 US gallons dropped over a wildland fire (Photo National Wildlife Service) II (Retardant Aerial Delivery System) (1), these drop systems used only ▼Tanker 17's RADS tank (Photo Frédéric Marsaly) two computers-controlled doors to release retardant in a more homogeneous way and enabled the crew to optimize the ground density covering according to vegetation and meteorological conditions. RADS tanks, efficient and reliable, were quite expensive. The process took a few years to be completed in 1998. ▼Tanker 23 in 2006 (Photo Eureka Times) Continuing to build up its fleet after 1996, Aero Union bought a P-3B phased out by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It became Tanker 26 and entered service in 1999. In 2002, Tanker 20 made its appearance. This P-3A, previously operated by the USN and the Spanish Air Force, had served as an instructional airframe at Texas State College in Lubbock before being bought by Aero Union. The findings of the audit were not glorious and when the Forest Service drew conclusions, on May 10, 2004, all contracts were canceled immediately. C-130As, Privateers, DC-4s, DC6s, and DC-7s and all twin-engine aircraft were definitively banned from federal contracts. Other aircraft, i.e. P-3 Orions and fourengined P-2 Neptunes (2) were allowed to resume service for the 2005 season after a thorough examination and once the operators presented evidence that these aircraft were maintained to the highest standards. On 20th April 2005, while in the middle of crew training flights for the upcoming season, Tanker 26 crashed in the mountains north of Chico in California, Paul Cockrell, and Brian Brown and the AUC chief pilot, Tom Lynch, being killed. (2) Most of Lockheed P-2 Fire Bomber have two R.3350 piston engines and two jet engines J34 and were considered as true 4 engined aircraft. Aero Union P2V-7 “Firestar” were true twin-engined Neptune and were banned from USFS contracts and phased out in 2004. ▲An Aero Union P-3 drops its load over Castle Rock Fire in 2007. (Photo Kari Greer/NIFC) ▼Tanker 27 waits for another mission from Hemet in july 1990 . (Photo Peter B. Lewis) The NTSB investigation concluded that the loss had been caused by pilot error and allowed P-3s to continue flying. Tanker 26 was replaced in 2008 by Tanker 17 modified from an airframe recovered after the demise of Hawkins & Powers back in 2004. In 2010, Aero Union left its historic hangars at the Chico airport and moved to McClellan Airport in Sacramento. In the process, the company ended engineering, designing and manufacturing tanks and drop systems sector to concentrate its activities on more profitable P-3 tanker operations. (revision of the translation : Franck Mée and René J. Francillon) To be continued... The beginning of the 2002 season marked a major turning point in the history of fire-fighting aircraft in the USA. Two fatal accidents to aircraft operated by Hawkins & Powers, C-130A Tanker 130 and PB4Y Tanker 123, led to a national audit on the Forest Service aging fleet of aircraft and the potentials maintenance deadlocks by the contractors companies. (1) RADS I were designed by Aero Union for C-130A flown by T&G and TBM companies. 16 CFPA news June 2015 17 Sunsets at Hollister By Jimmy Ferreira 18 CFPA news June 2015 19 French tourist at Hemet by Frédéric Cottin 20 CFPA news