Erickson – Wildfire Today

PHOTOS: Air show on the Highland Fire

Fire photographer Ryan Grothe sent over some eye candy from the Highland Fire south of Palm Springs, California, which forced evacuations of over 4000 people earlier this week.

On Tuesday October 31, the second day of the fire, L-55 Travis Strahan — a USFS lead based in Redding — was working out of Santa Maria. Air Attack over the incident at the time of these drops was Tony Duprey, with a trainee up front in USFS Air Attack 12 out of San Bernardino.

“On Monday, the first day of the fire, we did not fly it,” says Duprey. “The Cal Fire ATGS out of Hemet (AA-310) and Ramona (AA_110) flew the Highland Fire that day. The jurisdiction is Cal Fire, Riverside Unit.” He added that Cal Fire S-2 tankerss from Hemet and Ramona, as well as fed contract airtankers, flew it on Monday, along with a Cal Fire lead and ASM C-5 — Charlie 5, an OV-10.

“The Highland Fire was started on October 30 around 12:30,” wrote Grothe. “Fueled by strong Santa Ana winds, the fire was moving at a dangerous rate of spread. Numerous structures and houses have been destroyed, and one firefighter was injured while fighting the fire. As of now, the fire is 20 percent contained. Crews have been fighting the fire from both the ground and air.”

Ryan Grothe
Instagram: Palomar_airportfire_photo

Retardant drops were critical to the quick containment of the October 30 Highland Fire in southern California. Photo ©2023 Ryan Grothe

Cal Fire estimated containment at 25 percent by mid-day today, November 2, and said the fire, now just under 2500 acres, may be fully contained by November 8. More than 1200 personnel were working on the fire today, and it was hoped that power could soon be restored to powerlines that were shut down along Highway 79.

THANKS FOR THE PHOTOS, RYAN GROTHE!

Santa Maria ready for the season

It’s summer in California, and the Santa Maria Tanker Base is ready for the 2023 fire season. “We’ve got six personnel staffed with the base, and that’s parking tenders, ramp coordinator, tanker base manager, and timekeeper,” said Alex Ihle, air tactical group supervisor with the Los Padres. “Then between the primary mix plant here with Perimeter Solutions and the annex, there’s six or seven personnel ready to load tankers.” The air attack platform includes Ihle and his trainee, plus a contract pilot, and Tanker 101 has two pilots and a crew chief, he explained to News Channel 3-12.

The airtanker base, at the south end of the Santa Maria Airport a bit north of Lompoc, covers more than 3.6 million acres of response area, including San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura counties, as well as the Los Padres National Forest. The base opened for the season nearly two months ago, but significant rainfall over the winter and into spring has meant a late start to operations. Ihle said they delivered their first retardant in early June.

“That’s just a result of more rainfall than normal,” he said. “We are in essence about two months behind where we normally would be. Our fuel moistures now are right about 96-to-97 percent, and we typically see that fuel moisture percentage in early May, so we’re a couple of months behind.” Since opening in mid-May, the base has responded to just eight wildland fires, including the Villanova Fire near Ojai last week. While the tanker crew from the base flew out, they did not drop any retardant on the fire, which was limited to just 20 acres.

Erickson’s MD-87 aircraft, which can land loaded, were recently granted permission to make gear-up drops; Bill Gabbert wrote about this back in 2017.

Erickson's T-101 and T-105 — Two of Erickson’s MD-87 airtankers

This year Tanker 101, a 3000-gallon MD-87 owned by Erickson Aero Tanker, has been stationed at the base since June 5, and Capt. Brent Conner has been flying wildland fires for a few years — about 30 years as a tanker pilot and about 30 years as a cropduster pilot. He said T-101 will remain stationed at Santa Maria as long as they’re needed there.

Bill Gabbert caught this photo of the MD-87 aircraft at Madras, Oregon June 13, 2016.

MD-87 airtankers at Madras Oregon — MD-87 tankerss at Madras, Oregon before they were converted to airtankers. Photo by Bill Gabbert.

“I saw five of Erickson’s MD-87s at Madras,” he wrote in 2018. “They were parked in single file and my 24mm lens was not wide enough to get them all. The one missing in the photo also had Spanair on the side. Erickson bought at least seven of the MD-87s. They began flying two of them as airtankers in 2014.”

Erickson currently has seven MD-87 airtankers, five now on contract and two more headed out this week, in addition to its three DC-7 tankers.

Brent Conner Erickson MD-87 Santa Maria

Another Air-Crane for South Korea

Aircrane helicopter to be delivered to South Korea — Aircrane to be delivered to South Korea, Nov, 1, 2022. Erickson photo by pilot Brad Pepper.

This month Erickson Incorporated will deliver another Air Crane firefighting helicopter to the Korea Forest Service (KFS). The agency has at least half a dozen S-64 Air Crane helicopters.

In 2001, KFS became the first foreign government to purchase S-64 helicopters from Erickson. The recently delivered versions have composite main rotor blades and glass cockpits. Some of the S-64 helicopters in the KFS fleet have the optional front-mounted water cannon.

Erickson South Korea

Blackhawk helicopter flies for the first time without a pilot on board

UH-60 Blackhawk first autonomous flight — UH-60 Blackhawk in first autonomous flight. February 5, 2022. DARPA photo.

For at least two years Erickson Inc. has been working with Sikorsky and Lockheed Martin to develop a new pilot optional nighttime firefighting solution for helicopters, integrating Sikorsky’s MATRIX Technology into a wildfire suppression system. It would enable the S-64 Air-Crane, which was originally manufactured by Sikorsky, to fight wildland fires during the day or night. Fire Aviation first wrote about this project in February, 2020.

Sikorsky is not limiting this pilot optional capability to the Air-Crane, of course. On February 5 they completed the first of what they occasionally call “uninhabited flight” with a UH-60A Blackhawk. On the runway in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, one of Sikorsky’s pilots in a Blackhawk helicopter flipped the optionally piloted cockpit switch from two to zero, exited the aircraft, and walked across the runway.

Moments later the aircraft, identifiable by DARPA’s logo and tail number N600PV, completed a pre-flight check list, started its engines, spun up its rotors, and took off with no crew onboard. All of it happened fully autonomously.

Equipped with ALIAS (Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System), the Blackhawk began executing a 30-minute mission. To demonstrate its ability to adapt to a variety of mission environments, the uninhabited BLACK HAWK navigated at typical speed and altitude through a simulated cityscape, avoiding computer-generated buildings while route re-planning in real time.

The BLACK HAWK helicopter then autonomously executed a series of pedal turns, then maneuvered and completed a perfect landing. Once it shut itself down, the two pilots approached and reentered the aircraft. The OPV (optionally-piloted vehicle) switch was reversed from zero to two, and then the pilots taxied back down the runway.

This flight marks the first time that a Blackhawk has flown autonomously. It illustrates how ALIAS-enabled aircraft can help soldiers successfully execute complex missions with selectable levels of autonomy – and, said Lockheed, with increased safety and reliability.

We wrote last March that the helicopter which may be Erickson’s most well known Air-Crane, the one named Elvis, was being gutted down to the studs, so to speak. The company planed to rebuild N179AC as an S-64F+ that could operate without a pilot in the cockpit or autonomously.

"Elvis", an Erickson Air-Crane — “Elvis”, an Erickson Air-Crane. Credit: Erickson

Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Tom, Rick, and Gerald.

Blackhawk drone Erickson Lockheed Martin UH-60

Ten Erickson Air Cranes in one place, we’re told

The first time this has happened

Air-Crane Erickson Greece S-64

Erickson announces FAA certification for composite main rotor blades

Erickson announces composite main rotor blades — Erickson announces FAA certification for composite main rotor blades. Erickson image.

Erickson Incorporated has announced final FAA certification for the composite main rotor blades on the S-64F and CH-54B helicopters. Earlier this year, the company received approval for the S-64E model. This recent announcement finalizes the certification of the S-64F and CH-54B, solidifying FAA certification for the entire fleet of S-64 Air Crane® E & F models, as well as the CH-54 Skycrane A & B models.

The advanced design of the blades provides a significant performance advantage, especially with hot and high conditions.

This Certification brings considerable advantages, such as:

Performance gains
Fuel savings
Reduced vibration, meaning reduced wear and fatigue on the entire aircraft
Blade interchangeability with the E/A models

“It was quite difficult, but extremely satisfying to see this
project through to completion. There are a lot of blood
sweat and tears in those blades.”
– Billy Johnson, Chief Engineer at Erickson Incorporated

Air-Crane Erickson