Utah legislature approves bill to allow authorities to disable drones near wildfires

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Drone/UAV/UASTags ,

The governor is expected to sign the bill.

Lawmakers in Utah have passed a bill that would allow authorities to disable drones that are flying close to wildfires. While the legislation would allow the aircraft to be shot down, it is more likely that they would be disabled by electronic devices that would jam the radio signal or force them to land. Violators could be fined up to $15,000 or be sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Below is an excerpt from an article at the Star Tribune:

…Bill sponsor Sen. Evan Vickers told The Associated Press that the state highway patrol and National Guard already have the technology.

“The redneck in me is just to shoot the damn thing,” Vickers told lawmakers, adding that it was much more “humane” to jam the drone’s signal.

He said the technology allows officials to target a specific drone and can be used without hurting other nearby aircraft or technology.

[Senator Vickers said] before the vote that the costs of fighting a small wildfire burning about 300 miles south of Salt Lake City would have been several million dollars if five drone flights hadn’t interfered.

“Now we’re way past, north of $10 million because we had to ground aircraft all because of a drone,” Herbert said.

The Washington County Sheriff’s Office has been investigating drones flying near the fire, which is burning on a rocky ridge above the town of Pine Valley, but no arrests have been made or suspects identified. The sheriff’s office has offered a $1,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest…

Tanker 912 back on the job

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Fixed wingTags , ,
DC-10 Hayden Pass Fire
A DC-10 air tanker dropping on the Hayden Pass Fire. Undated/uncredited photo uploaded July 14 on InciWeb.

Tanker 912, the DC-10 that embedded its wing tip into the side of a hangar at Pueblo Airport on July 9 has been repaired and was back on the job yesterday. John Gould of 10 Tanker Air Carrier confirmed that it became airworthy again Wednesday and dropped retardant on the Hayden Pass Fire.

Sorry, but the extremely low resolution photo above was the only one we could find of a DC-10 on the Hayden Pass Fire.

Helicopter crew training in British Columbia

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories HelicoptersTags 3 Comments on Helicopter crew training in British Columbia

We posted the Tweet below, because the activity in the photo with the helicopter not is something we have previously seen.

DC-10 air tanker wing tip strikes hangar at Pueblo

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Fixed wingTags , , 1 Comment on DC-10 air tanker wing tip strikes hangar at Pueblo

(Published at 1:50 p.m. MDT July 12, 2016)

DC-10 wing into hangar
DC-10 wing impacts hangar at Pueblo Airport, July 10, 2016. Photo from the SAFECOM.

One of the three DC-10 Very Large Air Tankers, Tanker 912, was involved in an incident while taxiing back to the loading pits at the Pueblo, Colorado airport on Saturday, June 9. A  wing tip struck a hangar causing damage to the aircraft and the hangar. There were no injuries to anyone on the ground or the five personnel on board the air tanker.

After the accident occurred, with the wing tip still partially embedded in the structure, the DC-10 was left in place until Monday morning while the stability of the hangar was assessed and decisions were being made about how to proceed in order to minimize further damage.

“Yesterday [Monday] we had some structural engineers out to assess the hangar’s structural stability”, said John Vigil, Interim Director of the Pueblo Airport. “We were able to just cut off a couple of pieces of steel and then were able to push [the DC-10] back with a tug.

“From what I could see”, Mr. Vigil continued, “the damage was minimal to the aircraft. It was really just the wing tip. The damage to the hangar was a little bit more substantial. We’ll meet with the insurance company tomorrow [July 13] and get an assessment. The good news is the hangar didn’t collapse. There was a small [general aviation] plane in there, we were able to take it out and get it out of harm’s way, and then start to work getting the DC-10 free.”

A tug pushed the aircraft back on Monday, extricating the wing tip from the hangar. Later in the day mechanics from 10 Tanker Air Carrier, the operator of the three DC-10’s, began repairing the damage to the wing.

A SAFECOM was submitted at 12:07 p.m. on July 12, 2016. The FAA also a brief report.

T-912
File photo of Air Tanker 912 departing McClellan Air Field June 11, 2016 while working a fire on the Klamath National Forest. Photo by Matthew Rhodes.

On July 19, 2014 another DC-10 Very Large Air Tanker, T-910, incurred some damage to a wing while it was taxiing at the air tanker base at Moses Lake, Washington. While relocating in the loading pit area the aircraft struck a portable “air stair”, a structure that can be pushed up to the aircraft door. Two people on the ground were marshaling the DC-10 as it slowly moved, directing it where to go and supposedly watching for obstructions.

Delaware firefighter killed after falling from helicopter

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories HelicoptersTags ,

This was first published on Wildfire Today.

LODD Delaware firefighterA firefighter with the Lewes Fire Department in Delaware was killed Monday night when he fell from a State Police helicopter during monthly hoist training.

Below is an excerpt from Delaware Online:

..”Two volunteer firemen, along with a pilot and a trooper medic, were on board the helicopter,” said DSP spokesman Sgt. Richard Bratz. “As one of the firefighters stepped out onto the skid, at an undetermined height, he fell to the grassy area below the helicopter. At that point, the helicopter immediately landed, and the trooper medic and volunteer firefighter on board immediately responded and began medical assistance.”

Other firefighters rushed to the scene and assisted, Bratz said. The firefighter was transported to Beebe Healthcare, where he was pronounced dead. No one else on the scene got medical attention…

The Lewes Fire Department posted this message on their Facebook page:

It is with deep, deep regret that the Officers and Members of the Lewes Fire Department announce the passing of one of our own earlier today. Further details on remembrance services are to follow.

Our sincere condolences go out to the friends and family of the firefighter.

Photos of aircraft on the Red Canyon Fire in the Black Hills of South Dakota

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Fixed wing, HelicoptersTags , , , , , 2 Comments on Photos of aircraft on the Red Canyon Fire in the Black Hills of South Dakota

Above: Air tanker 866 drops on the Red Canyon Fire. Photo by Bill Gabbert.

The lightning-caused Red Canyon Fire was reported at 12:45 p.m. MDT on Saturday 9 miles southwest of Pringle, South Dakota but an aggressive attack on the ground and from the air stopped it at 13 acres.

In addition to engines, and water tenders, and four hand crews, at least 10 aircraft joined the battle. We were there for a couple of hours and observed one large air tanker, at least five single engine air tankers, one Sikorsky Skycrane helicopter, a lead plane, an air attack ship, and an Astar B3 helicopter.

In the gallery below, click on an image to see a larger version, then click the arrow buttons.

Art Prints

California: Brown Field is now an air tanker base

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Fixed wingTags , , 1 Comment on California: Brown Field is now an air tanker base

For the last couple of years San Diego County Supervisor Dianne Jacob has criticised the U.S. Forest Service for not allowing the air tankers they hire under contract to use the Ramona Airport as an air tanker base. CAL FIRE usually has two of their S2T air tankers at the base and has reloaded at the base a BAe-146 that they have under contract from Neptune Aviation. But the USFS contends the runway, at 5,001 feet, is too short for a fully loaded large air tanker.

When the Border Fire was burning near Potrero in eastern San Diego County a couple of weeks ago just north of the US/Mexico border, some of the air tankers had to fly over Ramona on the way to the next closest tanker base, Hemet-Ryan, 80 miles north of the fire, about 50 miles past Ramona.

Brown Field map

As of Wednesday of this week there is an additional air tanker base in San Diego County — at Brown Field Municipal Airport, which is on the southeast side of the greater San Diego area 1.5 miles north of the US/Mexico border. It is 31 miles south of Ramona and has a 7,972-foot runway which according to information from the USFS “provides ample length to meet safe takeoff requirements for the size and weight of a Next Generation Air Tanker with a full payload”.

Brown Field has a portable unstaffed retardant base that is under contract until September 30, 2016. After that, according to Oliva Walker, a Public Information Office for the Cleveland National Forest, the equipment will only be positioned there when it is needed, on a Call When Needed basis. She said the facility will only be staffed with personnel to operate the equipment and fill air tankers when there is a going fire and air tankers are flying out of the airport.

The Cleveland National Forest also has a fairly new Type 1 Helibase 30 miles east of the outskirts of San Diego near Interstate 8 half a mile from Cameron Fire Station on Kitchen Creek Road.