On August 11 I happened to be passing by the airport at Chester, in northeast California. It was 6 p.m., quitting time, and the U. S. Forest Service helitack crew was walking over to their cars, but one of them was nice enough to give me and my motorcycle riding partner a brief tour of the three Type 1 and Type 2 “restricted use” helicopters they were managing. The term “restricted” means they are not approved for transporting passengers.
So this is what replaced the heavy air tanker (s) at Chester Airport? Chester Air Base was great to place to respond air tankers from, B-17’s, C-119’s, etc. Most of the time once you departed (over the lake) it was down hill to the majority of the fires.
That was nice of the helitack crew to give you the tour. It’s that kind of simple positive response that makes Citizen Joe or Jane feel good about the government and shows how tax dollars are at work.
A few years ago I was managing a helicopter on an incident and a family with a couple of kids in tow came up and asked to look at it. The pilot was very happy to help and there were lots of pictures and happy faces all around.
Years later I was at another incident and a young man with a military bearing came up and said, “Sir, when I was a teen ager you showed me a helicopter and I dreamed of flying one and now I’m a army pilot, thank you”.
He had to refresh my memory on the time and place but it did match up.
In this age of budget cuts every small act of positive public realations can have a large ripple effect.
BMorgan, that’s a great story. Thanks for sharing it.