Vertical Fire Article

[matador]

Hi everybody, although new in this forum I guess I've already met with some of you in other ones. Just wanted to add my 2 cents.
I've been firefighting for 17 years now and always belly hooking. I can say that I can handle it quite well but since 2 years ago I decided to "learn" something new so I started training with a 100 ft. line and a load on it and after that I decided to put my bambi in a 50 ft line. I've been humbly doing my best and missing some drops but have to say that now I'm at an acceptable level. The thing is that around here NOBODY works with a line in the bucket so I've been told that I'm crazy, and some other not very nice things... As you can see just the opposite that this thread was holding about the bellyhooking guys... :huh:
Well, all I can say is that there is a place for everybody as long as you do your job and the customer is satisfied. the main thing is that you must be in a positive attitud about learning new technics and that nobody must be pushed around for not knowing certain jobs, specially if he/she doesn't have the right training yet, so you guys behave like you've been doing till now. I've been reading your forum for quite a while and have to say you are one of the friendliest and more experienced bunch of pilots in the world, so keep it that way, it really is worth
Buen vuelo from Spain

 

[CTD]

Welcome aboard, señor.

 

[Heli Ops]

Juan (Matador) - Good to see you here. These are a good bunch of guys. but watch out for 407driver and Cyclic Monkey. They have a bad habit of coming down here to New Zealand and doing nasty unmentionable things to our local animals

Now CTD is whole different kettle of fish. He has this fascination about female sheep and motorbikes. No need to ask any more questions, just look at the Vertical magazine thread. :down:

Seriously you will enjoy it here. Thanks again for the visit and was great to meet you and Emilio in Spain.

Heli Ops

 

[407 Driver]

Well posted Matador, and welcome.
I enjoy seeing your pictures on other sites, please post some here so these local boys can see something other than Swamp and Tundra !!
( I'm running away and ducking ).

Interesting comment on short Vs long. Tell us a bit more about your experiences, did any customers respond positively or negatively on one vs the other? Did you find any differences?

 

[twitch]

Hi ya'll. Just to throw in my two cents...... I also favor the long line for most jobs but there are times that the short line works better for me. A good pilot can switch back and forth, I think. One thing that we should sort out in this discussion is what type of helicopter is used. I've done a reasonable amount of fire work with heavy lift helicopters and would never dream of having anything less than 100' of line below. I'm sure it would be quite different if I was driving a jet box. One other thing that enters into the mix was working some fires with a long line, I spent a surprising amount of time on the dials especially after the drop and in the turn until clear of the smoke, on some fires. I would far sooner do that with a super puma than an astar. It would have been far easier to stay in ground contact on a short line than high above on the wrong end of a kite,

twitch

 

[cyclic monkey]

Hola Matador, sus comentarios son siempre bienvenidas aquí,
La buena suerte con el cable largo. ¿Tiene usted a una hermana, o quizá alguna oveja en su casa?
Adiós, Mono de Helicóptero

Band aid......the same message goes out to you too.

 

[Heli Ops]

Hey Juan and Cyclic Monkey - I know me Spanglish too.

Chinga ta Madre, vesa me verga. Pinchi Cabron. Bendeho.




Heli Ops

 

[407 Driver]

For those curious folks that don't speak Spanish...use Babelfish translator

Hello Matador, their commentaries are always welcomes here, the good luck with the long cable. Have you to a sister, or perhaps some ewe in your house? Good bye, Monkey of Helicopter

Sorry, but Heli-Ops comment didn't translate, probably due to his accent ??

With a laptop and an Internet connnection, even I could speak Spanish...

Matador, todos miramos adelante a sus experiencias con sus helicópteros en España. Por favor sepamos qué tipo de trabajo usted hace, y qué tipo de avión usted utiliza.

Too Cool....

 

[cyclic monkey]

Heli-ops wrote.....

Give my love to your mother. I'm still a virgin. Steal my donkey, (or literally, pinch my ass). Bend-over.

 

[bandaid]

Hola,
Cyclic, I do have 3 sisters each uglier than the last not unlike myself. I find it refreshing to know that not only paramedics bicker about their jobs and equipment.
I was off this summer nursing a broken ankle and as a result got to watch a tremendous amount of the work being done on the Kelowna fire by the fly boys/girls?. I don't know about accuracy but I do know that a lot of hours were flown by all involved. It must have been stressfull and my hat goes off to all of them.
Just the pure number of aircraft involved in such a small area must have required a tremendous amount of concentration. The fact their were no mishaps is a credit to all.

W

 

[407 Driver]

Hey BandAid! How'd you break that Ankle? did someone drop a loonie at the doughnut shop and you all lept for it ??

 

[cyclic monkey]

Bandaid. Thanks for your kind words. Yes, it ended-up as a busy summer, and even though there were no mishaps on the Kelowna fire, we did lose a fellow pilot north of Kamloops. I realise you probably didn't know this, but I just wanted to mention it so that Ben and his family knows he's not forgotten by his comrades.

These sisters of yours............are they nurses at KGH ??
I hear some great stories about those girls, though mostly unprintable here !!

 

[bandaid]

Actually Cyclic, I do remember the losses north of Kamloops and I didn't mean any disrespect to the family. Over the 24 years that I have been a paramedic I have witnessed so much death and injury that I tend to forget how others may feel, I hope I didn't come off uncaring. I was just commenting on what went on here in Kelowna and how I was amased at the number of aircraft working together in tight quarters without incident.
D, I actually broke my ankle working as a volunteer for a Kids camp. Paramedics shouldn't be roofers. Nuf said. Had I been diving for a loonie in the donut shop I would have broke my nose and that would have been a major trauma. Next time were together we'll compare beer bellies. I lost 10 lbs because I couldn't easily get to the fridge over the summer or drink any beer for that matter.

W

 

[matador]

Thanks a lot to all of you.
As I'm alone now in the forum, first a bit of history:
I met the first Canadian Pilots working north east of Spain in Cataluña, back in 1992 when Frontier brought some 205's with the tank on them. They were real nice fellows. Remember I shared a base with a guy called Roger that by that time had a Chilen girl friend, last thing I heard about him he crashed don't really know when and where.. too bad
I work mostly firefighting and mountain SAR (today I'm glad for we had an early morning call to search for a girl that spent the night lost in the mountains and after 1 hour flying we found her in good shape )
About the line, I've been using 50 ft in our bambi with an AS 355N and same with the 212 that once in a while I get to fly. As I told you I've been pushed around by a lot of the pilots around for I seem to be the only one doing it and what's more, trying to learn, but fortunately I have all the support from my company and from my customer. I guess they trust me enough to let me do it, that has been so much so that the customer is thinking about putting in the contract that some helicopters must use a line and my company has decided to start some training with some other pilots to work with a line in some bases... so I guess in some circumstances we will be working with a 50 ft line in some bases. I will keep you informed on how things develop....
FOr 407 driver: I wouldn't mind to share some pictures but someone must explain to me how to do it ( I'm not too good either with computers ). BTW I saw some of yours and are great, you have to tell me more about those rescues with the line in the second hook
Heli Ops: thanks once again for coming to visit. Looking forward to see what comes out of it. I sent you the mail with the Police add. and the answers to your questions. Did you get them? Let me know please. BTW we have to find a solution to the postal mail thing.... I'm having the same problem with Vertical, hope Mike and Linda read this once in a while. I think I'll have to ask them to send the last issue again :angry: for someone must be stealing the magazines in the way to my home :down:
Buen vuelo and take care everybody

 

[Ice Floe]

Been meaning to reply for awhile.
I have a bit of experience using both belly hooks and longline and find both have their places. While I don't pretend to know the exact circumstances that the "clowns" were working in , I do recall something in the flight manual called a height / velocity chart.
I thought we were supposed to avoid the shaded areas. If practicle.