Cockpit cam on an air tanker and Sky Crane

Firegeezer has some cool video that was shot by cameras installed in a CL-415 Super Scooper and an Erickson Sky Crane Aircrane helicopter. Check it out HERE. Be sure and click the “Full screen view” button.

The narrator says the CL-415 mixes “flame retardant” into the water. It injects Class A foam into the water, not “flame retardant”. 

Firegeezer also has a link to a video about some military tanks that have been converted to fire trucks. The simulated “radio traffic” is fun to listen to. And the tanks could be fun to play with.

 

Memorial for Robert Woodhead, helicopter pilot

From the Lillooet News

Robert Woodhead, the pilot who died on Friday, August 14 when his helicopter crashed as he was dipping water out of the Fraser River near Lytton, B.C., was remembered during a memorial service on Sunday.

Lillooet – Hundreds paid their respects Sunday at the 23 Camels Bridge to Robert Woodhead, the helicopter pilot who lost his life fighting the Intlpam wildfire.

Residents and emergency personnel joined Woodhead’s brother and four children at the afternoon tribute, which brought traffic to a standstill. Local firefighter Alain Auger and Eunice Stotesbury organized the event.

Woodhead was filling his helicopter’s water bucket from the Fraser River on Aug. 14 at about 4:20 p.m. when the craft crashed into the river. His helicopter, a Bell 212, crashed 28 kilometres north of Lytton and was headed to the Intlpam wildfire nearby.

Fire hoses spray two streams of water before helicopters fly over. Photo: Eunice Stotesbury

Another helicopter in the area tried to rescue him after the pilot saw Woodhead surface from the wreck. The other pilot lowered his bucket so Woodhead could grab hold. He could not.

His body was found in the river on Aug. 19, a kilometre south of Yale.

Though the large crowd was nearly silent and the mood was sombre, many cheered in a spectacular moment of the tribute.

Two fire hoses launched streams of water into the Fraser River from the bridge. As the hoses sprayed, three helicopters flew in a row above the river, south towards the 23 Camels. The middle helicopter carried a water bucket.

The middle helicopter released the water before reaching the bridge, prompting a shout of approval from the crowd.

The helicopters then flew over the bridge before breaking formation and turning around.

Bruce Rushton, the chaplain for the Canadian Fallen Firefighters Foundation, then played the last post and “Amazing Grace” on a trumpet.

Woodhead’s brother and children tossed flowers off the bridge into the river after Rushton played. They were followed by Lillooet Fire Department Deputy Chief David Harder, who invited the audience to release flowers and other mementoes such as poems, into the river.

Body of helicopter pilot found

The body of Robert Christopher Woodhead, the 53-year old helicopter pilot who had been missing after his firefighting helicopter crashed into the Fraser River in British Columbia on Friday, has been found. It was located just south of Saddle Rock, near Spuzzum. 

Mr. Woodhead was piloting a Bell 212 and attempting to fill his water bucket when the ship crashed into the river. 

The helicopter company he worked for is planning a tribute on Sunday in Lillooet on the bridge over the Fraser River.

Helicopter pilot believed dead after crash in B.C.

Authorities now believe that the pilot who was flying the helicopter that crashed into the Fraser River in British Columbia on Friday is dead. Our sincere condolences to the family and co-workers.

From EastOttawa.ca:

Robert Christopher Woodhead, 53, of Stoney Creek, Ont., was operating a Bell 212 helicopter with a line and water bucket Friday afternoon when the aircraft went down in the Fraser River, near Lytton, B.C.

RCMP Cpl. Dan Moskaluk said Mounties believe Woodhead died soon after the chopper crashed in water 15 metres deep and with a swift current.

“We have met and spoken to the family,” Moskaluk said.

“It is believed that Mr. Woodhead perished in the river.”

Woodhead, who was based in B.C., was last seen in the water just after the crash by another pilot who was flying overhead.

That pilot tried to save Woodhead by lowering his own line and bucket into the water but the rescue attempt proved unsuccessful.

Moskaluk said search crews have recovered Woodhead’s flight helmet, as well as pieces of debris from his helicopter, but they have yet to find the man’s body in the water.

“In incidents of this nature, with the incertitude of the person’s fate, it leaves all in a suspended state of deep grief,” he said.

“Our thoughts, along with those of all British Columbians, whose lives and homes were protected in this and in past fire seasons by the courageous efforts of ground firefighters and the pilots assigned to battling these blazes, are with the Woodhead family at this time.”

B.C.-firefighting helicopter crashes into river, pilot missing

From the C.P.:

LYTTON, B.C. — The search continues in the rushing waters of the Fraser River for an Ontario helicopter pilot whose aircraft crashed while fighting one of the many forest fires burning across British Columbia.

The Bell 212, piloted by 53-year-old Robert Christopher Woodhead of Stoney Creek, Ont., was operating as a waterbucket on the 12-square-kilometre Intlpam fire near Lytton late Friday afternoon when it went down.

The helicopter is now submerged in 15 metres of water flowing at about 16 kilometres per hour, but there’s no sign of Woodhead, who was the only person in the aircraft.

Woodhead’s family in Stoney Creek say they aren’t commenting on the search.

Cpl. Dan Moskaluk of the RCMP says the federal Fisheries Department and a local search-and-rescue squad have boats on the water and a Mountie helicopter is searching from the air, but he says the water is too rough to use divers.

Moskaluk says witnesses reported seeing the pilot surface after the crash, prompting the Mounties to focus thier efforts on the water and riverbanks.

The B.C. Forest Service had contracted the chopper, which is the second aircraft the crash this fire season, although this is the first fatal crash.

A single-engine (air tanker) crashed into Okanagan Lake on July 25, but the pilot escaped without injury.

UPDATE at 5:10 p.m. MT, Aug. 15

The story has been updated by the Canadian press at 2:36 p.m. MT today. Here is an excerpt:

KELOWNA, B.C. — An Ontario helicopter pilot who was helping to fight one of British Columbia’s many forest fires was still missing Saturday, a day after another pilot flying overhead was unable to pull the man from the water in a dramatic rescue attempt.

Robert Christopher Woodhead, 53, of Stoney Creek, Ont., was operating a Bell 212 with a waterbucket Friday afternoon when the aircraft when down in the Fraser River near Lytton.

Woodhead, who was based in British Columbia, was last seen in the water just after the crash by another pilot who watched from the air as the helicopter went down, said RCMP Cpl. Dan Moskaluk.

“A valiant attempt was made by lowering his line and bucket into the river near Mr. Woodhead,” Moskaluk said in an interview.

“However, he was not successful in getting the line to him and did eventually lose visual sight of the pilot in the water.”

Moskaluk said police are still considering the search a rescue operation, and are concentrating their efforts on the riverbanks in what is considered a particularly rough part of the Fraser Canyon.

Midwest Helicopters on DIY Network

Desiree Horton, the helicopter pilot who writes the blog The Adventures of Chopper Chick! is now working for Midwest Helicopters out of Chicago and just recently ferried one of their S-58T’s to Boise “for fire season”.  Her blog is always interesting to read.

She pointed out that the DIY Network featured her company in a 20 minute segment in which they were lifting heavy equipment to the tops of buildings in downtown Chicago. It’s fascinating to watch.