Winners announced for student air tanker design competition

air tanker design competition
First place: Fireflighter

The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Foundation has announced the winners of a Team Aircraft Design Competition open to undergraduate AIAA branches or at-large Student Members.  The task was to design from the ground up a purpose-built large air tanker.

Specifications for the aircraft included 4,000 to 8,000 gallon retardant capacity, 2,000 to 3,000 nm ferry range, it would use existing available engines, and have a dash speed of 300 to 400 knots. Other criteria included a drop speed of 125 to 150 knots and takeoff from a Balanced Field Length of 5,000 to 8,000 ft. with an assumption of +35°F standard atmosphere at an altitude of 5,000 ft. above mean sea-level.

The design teams awarded first, second, and third places all chose 8,000-gallon gravity-powered retardant tanks. The estimated prices of the aircraft are based on a manufacturing run of dozens of each aircraft. The teams’ complete proposals are at the links below.

First Place

The “Fireflighter” designed by a team from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore took first place. (See image above). It is powered by four turboprop engines and has a dash speed of 410 knots. The students estimate it would cost $75 million.

air tanker design competition retardant tank
Fireflighter retardant tank

Second Place

air tanker design competition
Second place, Valkyrie, by team Njord.

Team Njord, from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign designed the “Valkyrie,” powered by two jet engines. Its dash speed is 300 knots and would use two removable RADS-XXL retardant tanks, enabling it to carry 20,000 pounds of cargo at the aircraft’s ferry range of 3,000 nm. It would sell for approximately $186 million.

air tanker design competition retardant tank
Falkyrie retardant tank

Third Place

air tanker design competition
Third place, Firehawk, by team Albatross.

The Albatross team, also from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, designed the “Firehawk” powered by two jet engines. It would have a dash speed of 380 knots and sell for about $91 million.

air tanker design competition retardant tank
Firehawk retardant tank

Cameras on firefighting aircraft filmed attack on brush fire in California

S2T and OV-10 attack the Still Fire

View from an S-2T air tanker while dropping on the Still Fire
View from an S2T air tanker while dropping on the Still Fire, Sept. 26, 2022. Still image from the video below.

The CAL FIRE Air Attack Base in Grass Valley, California posted this video on September 26 showing the view from an S2T air tanker and an OV-10 Bronco Air Attack aircraft as firefighters in the sky assist personnel on the ground on the Still Fire.

Internal and external cameras on the S2T captured the action from the cockpit as well as looking from the aircraft’s belly to the rear as 1,200 gallons of retardant is dropped on the fire. The Air Attack ship also had cameras and you can listen to the radio traffic with the helicopters, air tankers, and the Incident Commander on the ground as they coordinate tactics to stop a fast-moving wildfire which was threatening multiple homes and other structures.

The fire was held to 44 acres after it was attacked by firefighters on the ground and a total of 7 air tankers and 2 helicopters.

Meeting the new USFS requirements for data monitoring and communications on helicopters

Helicopter 729 drops on a fire
Helicopter 729 drops on a fire near El Cajon, CA May 13, 2022. Ryan Grothe.

The US Forest Service recently released new requirements for firefighting helicopters on their Multiple Award Task Order Contract (MATOC). It requires real-time communications, automatic flight following, and ATU bucket drop data, together with cockpit audio recording and Flight Data Monitoring (FDM).

Three companies have combined their expertise to build a system that meets the requirements without overburdening aircraft and budgets, according to a press release issued by GPMS, Blue Sky Network, and Flightcell.

Below are excerpts:


Today, GPMS International, Flightcell, and Blue Sky Network jointly announced a combined solution featuring their industry-leading technologies that creates a fully compliant, lightweight, cost-efficient option for operators looking to bid on the recently released U.S. Forest Service Multiple Award Task Order Contract (MATOC) firefighting contract.

Executives from the companies explained that many operators are having difficulty finding workable solutions to satisfy the new requirements in the USFS contract. By pairing Flightcell’s and Blue Sky Network’s enabled communications, flight following, Additional Telemetry Unit (ATU), and cockpit audio recording with GPMS’s advanced Health and Usage Monitoring System, the combined package meets new USFS requirements including the “modern aircraft” specification for HUMS.

“After many discussions during the HAI Firefighting and Aerial Firefighting shows, operators told us that they are looking for a solution to meet the new USFS requirements without overburdening their aircraft with additional weight or complexity or stacking single system costs onto their budgets,” said Todd Powers, GPMS VP of Sales. “What we have created here with Flightcell and Blue Sky Network is a lightweight, economically efficient solution to bring aircraft into compliance and allow operators to compete for this new contract.”

It puts Flightcell’s DZMx Plus and Smarthub cockpit audio visual recording onboard and, using Blue Sky Network’s connectivity service and SkyRouter™ fleet management platform, data is ported via a dual Satellite/LTE modem, where operators get comms, ATU data, and flight following in real-time together with downloadable audio/video recording.

Completing the solution, GPMS’s Foresight MX system provides the in-depth flight and machine monitoring that are part of the MATOC’s modern aircraft requirements for HUMS. Foresight provides engine and airframe vibration monitoring, engine performance monitoring and cycle counting, flight data monitoring with exceedance alerting, as well as rotor track and balance monitoring and adjustment solutions.

More information.

Fire Traffic Area, September 24, 2022

San Diego County Sheriff helicopter drops on a wildfire
San Diego County Sheriff helicopter 12 drops on a wildfire in Oceanside, CA June 29, 2022. Photo by Ryan Grothe.

Today we are continuing an occasional weekend feature called Fire Traffic Area. This post serves as the beginning of an open thread where readers can leave comments about issues not yet covered — or maybe they have been covered. This is literally an off-topic thread. What do you think needs to be pointed out, asked, or discussed within the fire aviation community? You have the floor.

The usual rules about commenting apply. And remember, no personal attacks or politics, please.

De Havilland to build large aircraft manufacturing complex east of Calgary, Alberta

They will produce the DHC-515 water scooping air tanker, DHC-6 Twin Otter, and Dash 8-400 (Q400)

Artist concept of De Havilland Field
Artist concept of De Havilland Field, with construction scheduled to be begin in 2023. De Havilland image.

In a discussion Wednesday about the numerous massive wildfires in France this year, and what that may portend for fire seasons to come, Gérald Moussa Darmanin, Minister of the Interior, said, “We want to increase the number of Canadair [water scooping air tankers] in our own fleet from twelve to sixteen. But the problem is not to buy them, it is to produce them. Today there are no longer any factories that do so.”

France is also in the process of replacing their S-2 air tankers with six Dash 8-400 (Q400) air tankers.

The De Havilland CL-215 and CL-415 water scooping air tankers are no longer in production. But in March the company announced that a new modernized variant, the DHC-515, first teased in 2018, will be assembled in Calgary, Alberta with deliveries beginning by the middle of the decade.

De Havilland has facilities in Calgary where work on the existing CL-215, CL- 415, and CL-415 EAF aircraft currently takes place employing about 1,000 people at six buildings.

Introduction of De Havilland Field
Introduction of the planned construction of De Havilland Field, September 21, 2022. De Havilland photo.

The same day Mr. Darmanin said production of new firefighting air tankers is not occurring, De Havilland made a grand announcement at the Calgary airport. The company has acquired nearly 1,500 acres of land east of the city on which they expect to build a very extensive complex of aircraft manufacturing facilities. It will include a runway and will be known as De Havilland Field with construction beginning as early as 2023 with the first buildings operational by 2025.

“De Havilland Field, like Rome — I have to warn you — won’t be built in a day. We anticipate the full build-out will take somewhere between 10 and 15 years,” said company co-owner Sherry Brydson. “We’re planning to take it slowly and seriously, and we’re going to make sure it works.”

The company expects to employ 1,500 workers to produce at least three lines of aircraft — DHC-515, DHC-6 Twin Otter, and Dash 8-400 (Q400).

Work on the Twin Otter and Dash 8-400 paused at the start of the pandemic in 2020.

In February, the company announced the consolidation of Viking Air, Longview Aviation, Pacific Sky Training, and De Havilland Canada under the operating brand De Havilland Aircraft of Canada.

The European Union coordinates and funds the deployment of 12 fixed wing firefighting airplanes and one helicopter pooled by EU countries. We reported in July that the EU plans to purchase additional air tankers.

“European customers have signed letters of intent to purchase the first 22 aircraft pending the positive outcome of government-to-government negotiations through the Government of Canada’s contracting agency, the Canadian Commercial Corporation,” an announcement from De Havilland read. “De Havilland Canada expects first deliveries of the DHC-515 by the middle of the decade, with deliveries of additional aircraft to begin at the end of the decade, providing other customers the opportunity to renew existing fleets or proceed with new acquisition opportunities at that time.”

Firefighting helicopter crashes in Turkey killing two

The Interior Ministry of Turkey reported that two people were killed and five were injured when a firefighting helicopter crashed as it was en route to the Turkish port of Marmaris.

Personnel on the helicopter included two Russians and five Turkish citizens but the ministry did not give the nationalities of the deceased.

An official at the General Directorate of Forestry told journalists the helicopter had flown in from the northern province of Kastamonu to join others at Marmaris, a resort town on the Aegean Sea.

No cause was given for the crash which occurred in a field in the Çardak district, Denizli province.

The helicopter may have intended to assist with a large wind-driven fire in the Yalancıboğaz area of Marmaris. On Wednesday aircraft working on the blaze included 15 helicopters and 8 fixed wing aircraft assisting 500 firefighters on the ground. The fire is near a naval base which prompted the response of military personnel and equipment to assist in suppression.

Aviation Safety Network reports the helicopter was a Kamov Ka-32 operated by Avialift. It had departed from Kastamonu en route to Marmaris. Helicopter crash, Turkey, Sept 21, 2022

 

We send out our sincere condolences to the family, friends, and co-workers of the deceased and injured.

Portugal to purchase six firefighting-capable Blackhawk helicopters

Blackhawk helicopter
Blackhawk helicopter. Photo by Arista Aviation Services.

The Portuguese Air Force has signed an agreement to purchase six Blackhawk helicopters outfitted for fighting wildfires. The aircraft will be supplied by Arista Aviation Services, a US-based firm which specialises in modernising surplus US Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters.

Delivery of the first two is scheduled for the first quarter of 2023.

The contract includes the supply of material and tools, plus technical maintenance support until 2026 and training for six pilots and 21 mechanics. The UH-60 Black Hawk will allow transport of 12 firefighters and their equipment and has the capacity to carry up to 780 gallons of water.

The Expresso publication reported that the terms of the contract allow for the helicopters to be up to 35 years old. While age of the body of the ships may be measured in decades, it is possible that the helicopters have been modernized with recent technology.

In recent years a number of agencies in the United States have purchased new S-70i Blackhawks, which are given the “Firehawk” name after adding a 1,000-gallon (3,785-liter) water tank system, a raised landing gear (to accommodate the tank), and associated integrated avionics — a process that typically takes six months.

But some agencies go the UH-60 route, taking a former military helicopter and performing a similar conversion to a firefighting machine. Ventura County Fire Department in California is an example.

When I was in Portugal in 2012 working on a fire consulting project, the aerial firefighting capabilities of the country were very, very limited. There was no significant air tanker fleet or a system for providing aerial platforms for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance. A problem that confronted firefighters on a large fire was not knowing exactly where the fire was or how far it had spread, which made ordering evacuations a challenge.

Ka-32 helicopter Portugal
Kamov Ka-32A on standby at Loulé heliport in Portugal. Photo by Bill Gabbert August 29, 2012.

In 2006 the government spent €348 million to buy six Kamov Ka-32A helicopters which could transport personnel and drop water, but over the last 10 years have had difficulty keeping them airworthy. In January none of the six were operational. The Helicopter Investor reported that in April the Portuguese government expelled a team of Russian mechanics working on three of the Kamovs, and shut down the hangar in Ponte de Sor where the maintenance crew was working.

Embraer C-390 equipped with MAFFS II
Embraer C-390 equipped with a MAFFS II. Embraer photo.

Portugal was Embraer’s first export customer for the C-390 fixed wing aircraft when it ordered five in 2019 for $930 million. Recently Embraer has successfully completed the flight test certification campaign for the Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System (MAFFS II), which provides the C-390 with the ability to drop up to 3,000 gallons water or retardant on wildfires.

Embraer tests the C-390 with a MAFFS II retardant delivery system

Embraer C-390 equipped with MAFFS II
Embraer C-390 equipped with a MAFFS II. Embraer photo.

Embraer has successfully completed the flight test certification campaign for the Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System (MAFFS II), which provides the C-390 Millennium with the ability to drop water or retardant on wildfires. The tests were carried out at the Embraer facility in Gavião Peixoto, São Paulo State, in Brazil. After full certification, the firefighting capability will be available to the aircraft’s operators.

The MAFFS II can discharge up to 3,000 gallons. It is designed to interface with the aircraft’s Cargo Handling System and requires only aircraft power to operate. The conclusion of these tests, which included several in-flight water drops, proved the system’s ability to integrate with the aircraft, and demonstrated suitable aspects of flight quality and maneuverability at low speeds.

When the first C-390 or KC-390 rolled out of the factory in 2014 and had not yet completed its first flight, Embraer was comparing it to the American-built C-130, saying it would be multi-role, including serving as an air tanker. Their web site included an artist’s conception of the aircraft outfitted with a first generation MAFFS, with two nozzles exiting through the open rear cargo ramp. The MAFFS II pumps the water or retardant out the troop door on the left side, as seen in the recent photos from Embraer.

KC-390 air tanker
Embraer had this image on their website in 2014, showing an artists conception of the new KC-390 dropping on a wildfire. It is now known as the C-390.

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