Heavy Lift to put ex-US Marine Corps CH-53D through paces in preparation for the 2006 North American season

Heavy Lift, a California-based specialist helicopter company, has started evaluating what is believed to be the first commercial Sikorsky CH-53D as a possible firefighter for the 2006 North American fire season.

The ex-US Marine Corps-operated CH-53D, dubbed Fire Stallion, was acquired from the US Navy in 2004 from storage at the Davis-Monthan AFB site in Arizona. Certificated by the US Federal Aviation Administration under its recently recategorised restricted category, the CH-53 remains a converted ex-military helicopter rather than a civil S-65 under the standard category. Heavy Lift, a division of Rogers Helicopters, hopes the CH-53 will prove a worthy successor in the firefighting role to the larger CH-54 Skycrane, of which it operates three.

“We think it may be more reliable to operate, and it will free up our CH-54s for construction work. We believe the CH-53 will be better suited to firefighting because of its higher speed,” says Heavy Lift chief pilot Mike Gilpin.

The company plans to optimise the helicopter for tests in the new role by fitting a 9,070 litre (2,400USgal) tank developed by Oregon-based Simplex Manufacturing, and is busy taking empty weight out of the structure.

“If we can lighten the airframe we think we can get a real winner,” says Gilpin, who adds that the helicopter’s empty weight may be reduced by around 450kg (1,000lb) through the removal of military specific radio and systems wiring, as well as the use of a US Air Force type non-folding rotorhead in place of the installed navy rotor unit.

Initial trials over the next two months will involve general lifting tests and “we may be going out with a ‘bambi-bucket’”, says Gilpin. “We’ll be finding out how it flies and operates, and what we need in terms of support equipment and so on.

“Next year, by June, we will have the firefighting system installed in the aircraft, but we want to be sure before we commit to the [US] Forest Service.”

GUY NORRIS/LOS ANGELES

Source: Flight International