When the US government grounded the fixed-wing firefighting fleet last year, helicopters had to replace 30-40 aerial tankers during an especially severe fire season throughout much of the nation. As a result, 35 helicopters were pressed into service under National Multi-Agency Coordination (NMAC) programme contracts, in addition to the 161 helicopters already hired by the US Forest Service under exclusive use and call-when-needed contracts.
As the 2005 fire season begins – it lasts roughly May through October – the number of helicopters needed for service is still not known, says Chuck Taylor, the US Forest Service's national helicopter programme manager. "Everything will hinge upon the number of fixed-wing air tankers that return to service, and the funding."
That is making it difficult for helicopter operators to plan whether to allocate their equipment for firefighting, or the more lucrative construction, logging and other heavy lifting jobs. "This poses problems for helicopter operators, because they can hold back their fleets for only so long before they must be deployed to other jobs," says Todd Petersen, marketing representative with Oregon-based Columbia Helicopters. "It makes it hard to decide what kinds of contracts we should bid."
Complicating matters more is the fact that by 2 January 2006 operators will have to subscribe, at their expense, to an automatic flight following (AFF) service, per helicopter, to qualify for contracts. AFF will permit the Forest Service to track each helicopter deployed in firefighting on its website, for more efficient utilisation and greater flight safety. On the same date, the US Federal Aviation Administration has ordered that each passenger position be equipped with a shoulder harness, integrated with the seat belt.
The Forest Service contract specifications are also tending to favour increasingly newer, more capable helicopters. "They are looking at the higher altitude, greater payload helicopters with the latest equipment," says Tom Eversole, executive director of the American Helicopter Association, which represents operators in the aerial firefighting business. Along with this, the dynamics of the market for firefighting helicopters have changed in the USA, largely due to the drawdown of military surplus Bell UH-1s, sold to private operators, and the demand for more capable equipment.
"The UH-1s dominated firefighting over the past 10 years," says Jim Sturm, president of General Helicopters International, a worldwide used-helicopter dealer. "With most of the surplus UH1s having been sold, we are seeing several families of light, medium and heavy helicopters that have firefighting applications."
David Oglesbee, director of marketing and sales for homeland security at Bell Helicopter, says that aerial firefighting contractors view new machines, as well as used helicopters, as options. He notes that the Bell 210, a civil-certificated version of the UH-1, has firefighting as one of its target markets, adding that sales of the $2.95 million aircraft have already been made to firefighting contractors.
Oglesbee says that as more wildfires threaten populated areas, the demand for helicopters to fight fires will only grow. "As fires become more urban, the helicopter will present a much wider usage solution, because it has the ability to work in densely populated areas, and can be used for spotting and better controlled delivery of fire retardants."
That demand may be extending to more specialised models, such as the Erickson Air-Crane. Originally produced by Sikorsky in the 1960s as the S-64 Skycrane for the military, by the 1970s it had found a home in logging and construction.
The helicopter's type certificate was purchased by Jack Erickson in 1991, who renamed the aircraft the Erickson Air-Crane. The new owner, Erickson Air-Crane Inc, has acquired S-64 airframes and made over 300 structural modifications to the twin-turbine aircraft.
Around 10-20 remaining S-64 airframes are potential candidates for remanufacturing – including five in Erickson's inventory – says Lanny Allmaras, manager, wildfire marketing and sales for the Oregon-based company. Allmaras adds that a new-production model is under serious consideration. To date, the company has sold six Air-Cranes as firefighters, of which the most recent sale was of four aircraft – with two options – to Italy. Two other firm sales were made to South Korea.
Kaman Aerospace, which has long promoted its K-Max heavylift helicopter for firefighting, using a bucket system, is now offering it with a 2,650 litres (700USgal) capacity external tank. To be marketed as the Fire-Max Helitanker, a K-Max, operated by Superior Helicopter, will fly with a U-shaped, belly-mounted tank . Two Oregon-based companies, Isolair and Kawak Aviation Technologies, are offering the tanks, although the Isolair product is all-composite.
"The industry is moving toward fixed tanks, because this is what the US Forest Service and other agencies now prefer, due to greater efficiency," says Roger Wassmuth, director of marketing and business development for Kaman Aerospace Helicopter Division.
Both companies expect to have the tanks available for this year's fire season and will make them available to existing K-Max operators for retrofit.
PAUL SEIDENMAN/SAN FRANCISCO
Source: Flight International
