Our ‘New Normal’ – The Drop May/June 2020
In early March of this year, the AerialFire team headed to Sacramento for the Aerial Firefighting...
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Category: Columns
Moving the Safety Needle
As I read the latest press release from the United States Helicopter Safety Team (USHST), I was...
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The Drop – Summer editorial
Here we are into the second issue of AerialFire after breaking out as a separate publication from...
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“It’s Déjà vu All Over Again”
“…a training effort by and for personnel directly involved in aerial retardant and water delivery....
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Landing a seat
Single-engine air tanker (SEAT) pilots are carded, or licensed, by the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Aviation Management Directorate (AMD). The department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) provides training for SEAT pilots.
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Here we go again
A new fire season is already upon us. It seems like the last one just ended! Texas released most of its firefighting assets around Thanksgiving with the understanding things would probably get busy again in early spring.
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Relative Articles
Changes coming
The 2010 summer fire season is more than halfway over. Unless something changes, this season will be the third slow season in a row. The National Preparedness was still at Level 2 on a scale of 1-5 (as of August 1). In comparison, the last two years we were at Level 3 by this time; which is still a low number for a normal year.
Fire Season Off to a Different Start
A conventional fire season would be where the majority of activity sprung up in the American Southwest. In a twisted start for the 2016 fire season, the vast majority of fires have been with our Canadian neighbors.
Time flies
Every three years the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) issues new contracts for SEATs. I received my copy about a week ago. There were no big changes from past contracts and most of the new items are related to pilot training and safety. All pilots will now be required to pass a mission competency evaluation.