Coulson modifies 2 helicopters for night flying

Coulson S61, C-FMAY.
Coulson S61, C-FMAY.
One of Coulson’s S61s, C-FMAY. Photo by Coulson

Coulson Aviation has modified two helicopters so that they can be flown at night. The company, according to Vertical Magazine, took one of their four Sikorsky S61s and a Bell 206B Jet Ranger to Boise, Idaho to get Aviation Specialties Unlimited to make the modifications necessary to be compatible with night vision goggles (NVG).

Coulson also installed a hoist and a medivac interior on the S61, similar to the systems on Los Angeles County’s SH-3 Sea King helicopters, so that it could be used to extract injured personnel from remote areas day or night. This capability could save the lives of firefighters who are victims of accidents after sunset.

Two of the company’s S61s, including the NVG-equipped ship, are in Australia now working on a fire contract. Night flying is not part of the agreement but Coulson hopes to demonstrate to the authorities the benefits of fighting fire at night, when fires move more slowly and firefighting can be more effective.

The US Forest Service will experiment with one night-flying helicopter in 2013, even though helicopters have been fighting fire at night for decades.

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7 thoughts on “Coulson modifies 2 helicopters for night flying”

  1. I’ve flown NVG’s. I think the currency requirements would be prohibitive to keep even a minimal number of helo pilots night qualified. As for fixed wing night ops, they would have to work at higher altitudes in mountainous terrain and at higher altitudes, retardant wouldn’t be effective and drop accuracy would also be degraded.

  2. The Angeles N.F. is part of Los Angeles County. They surely have some sort of an agreement for mutual threat fires. Stadium fire fighting does work in those urban/interface areas where the pilots fly routinely at night. Is there any place outside of So. Cal that after the sun goes down that helicopter fire fighting is used? I must have over used the word, experiement, its already has been “invented”. My thoughts centered around all natural resources/ interface area outside but including So.Cal. I guess I must have read too many comic books (i.e. Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers) as a kid. A fixed wing air tanker delivering retardant in the dark on a five acre “potentially dangerous” wildfire assurd ! As I pitched into a forty acre field spraying tomatos surrounded by power lines or defoliating cotton in the desert of Arizona after sundown “this can’t be done.”

  3. Political experiment, that is all that this will turn out to be, a project to keep elected officials off the Feds back. (nothing wrong with that) For over three decades the military has been “running” attack sorties throughout mountainous regions of the world in total darkness, 250 knots at 200 feet following the terrain. So, a LAT/ VLAT properly night ops carded flying below 500 feet releasing retardant on a threating evolving fire (i.e. Station) isn’t even being considered? Or how about a wildfire moving after dark that is going to “eat-up” a community as soon as the sun gets on it? I bet there are some airline and military folks that could add contemporary light to this subject. Regardless, you still have to have a detection and dispatch program that is streamline with time sensitive effectiveness.

    1. The military also has full-time combat ready pilots who train extensively for their missions (year-round) with a large training budget. And, they also have catastrophic failures on occasion. You’re right about the politics, Johnny but I’m not sure that the political will is really out there for either the costs or potential fatalities of an extensive night flying operation.

    2. Johnny I disagree with this being a political experiment. LA City Fire, LA County Fire, and Santa Barbra County Fire have proved time and time again that fighting fire from the air at night works. I would rather fight fire at night than during the day when extreme fire behavior is more likely to occur.

  4. Most of the time, if we folks on the line, our dispatch is staffed. If dispatch is going out of service with folks off duty but in the field, they will be handed off to the county 911 dispatch.

  5. As the sun goes down the Federal fire fighters go back to their incident base or go home after 10 or 12 hours. So who on the Federal side will make the decision to dispatch after dark? The private operators will rise to the need for services but will be of little value if timely dispatching (after sunset) is not addressed.

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