Tailwinds and blue skies are toasted today in the direction of another longtime Fire Aviation personality, Hugh Carson, who was an Air Operations Branch Director and served as the BLM’s State Aviation Manager for Utah and Nevada. Carson, who died recently, was also the Aviation Training Developer for the BLM at NIFC, and was famous for ordering ping pong balls delivered in quantity to fire camps in the West.
Hugh Carson was possibly more famous for his personality than he was for his career oeuvre — the Interagency Helicopter Operations Guide (IHOG). In retirement he was also a popular DJ with KVNF Mountain Grown Public Radio out of Paonia, Colorado, and left countless music listening fans saddened by his loss.
https://fireaviation.com/2013/01/30/12-questions-for-hugh-carson
Bill Gabbert back in 2013 ran one of his series of “12 Questions” profiles on Carson, who was instrumental in developing the Interagency Airspace Coordination Guide [PDF] — working on a related project in 1999 was when I first ran onto Hugh, who explained to me why he was known as “Hurricane.”
He’ll surely be missed.
7 Comments
Love you Hugh and you will be missed. Worked with you on many wildfires back, in the day. One of our best AOBD in the business. I especially enjoyed your radio station with the many Jazz genres you played, we had many of the same musical styles and players. Rest in peace brother, I’ll see you someday, but not today.
Hugh was a musical force here in Paonia and at KVNF and his passing is, well, a total bummer. As Kelly wrote, Hugh’s wildfire history is substantial, and he was instrumental in numerous national and interagency wildfire endeavors. Dang!
There was never a dull moment on a fire with the Hurricane. Taught us a lot and both USFS and BLM are better in aviation due to his work. RIP
Hugh was the first AOBD I worked with after I switched to helicopters. He became a great friend and I enjoyed listening to his radio show after he retired. He will be missed.
Hugh – He did it his way! and owned the results. It could be helping someone get thru an everyday struggle or working thru the effort to developing community sourced guidance for the Helicopter program. No one was more fun to tell stories and laugh with.
Best wishes to Margaret and family always.
My friend, Hugh! I am so truly saddened to hear of the passing of a wonderful man, a great friend, confidant, and one of the kindest and smartest men I ever knew. In this crazy world, Hugh was always a bright light, exemplified ten-fold with his love for his family and for his music. He was a life-giving breath of fresh air.
My heartfelt condolences go out to Margaret and his two daughters.
I will truly miss you, Hugh.❤️
I just emailed Hugh a few hours ago wondering what happened to his weekly emails about his show. Going to miss you sir. Our long talks about your extraordinary life will never be forgotten. Godspeed Chief
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