A small island on a lake in Canada’s Northwest Territories (NWT) has been named “Duck Island” after a Canadair CL-215 scooper was stranded there for a couple of months till it was airlifted out by a CH-47 Chinook helicopter owned by Billings Flying Service.
Sometimes called “ducks” for their nimble maneuvering on water, the CL-215 scooper is a twin-engine, high-wing amphibious airtanker that is a staple of aerial firefighting operations. Canada endured a severe fire season this year, with more than 300 fires and over 4 million hectares burned — almost 10 million acres.
Vertical Magazine reported that a 1968 CL-215 belonging to NWT operator Buffalo Airways Ltd. was scooping water in late August from remote Mitchell Lake north of Yellowknife.
“We were at a low water cycle,” recalled Joe McBryan, founder of Buffalo Airways. “It was four feet lower than normal. We had scooped 78 loads off that lake, but this time the aircraft struck a rock reef.” The rock punctured the aircraft underbelly and caused a fast flow of water into the keel, rendering the plane inoperational. The pilots spotted a small island nearby and were able to taxi the CL-215 over and tie it to a small tree before they were rescued by helicopter.
“It was a little northern toothpick tree,” laughed Benjamin Tessier, a technician in aerospace engineering at Buffalo Airways. He was part of the crew who were sent in to prepare the scooper for an airlift, and McBryan then found the only helicopter that could possibly airlift the CL-215 scooper back to safety — a CH-47 Chinook.
Meanwhile, Tessier and five of his co-workers headed for the island. They had to somehow reduce the aircraft’s empty weight to a number between 18,000 and 18,500 lbs. — and get it out of the water.
“We did everything in September to prepare for the takeoff,” Tessier told Vertical Magazine. “We took the engines and props apart and removed them, took all fluids out (oil, fuel, foam agent), got rid of the radios, pump systems — all to lighten it up. We removed 10,000 lbs. of equipment plus about 13 drums of fluids. All of that took about two weeks.”
Tessier said the props and engines were removed while the aircraft was still on the water. “We cut trees and built a raft that we craned the engines onto,” he recalled. “We supported all the weight of the engines on that raft and a Bell 205 helicopter lifted them from there.” SimpleFlying.com reported that the retrieval operation went smoothly, with Tessier shooting video and posting it online.
Recovering the aircraft involved weeks of careful planning — and even special government approval. The main concern for Buffalo Airways was the fast-approaching winter season. Once temperatures dipped below freezing, the aircraft would be frozen into the lake ice, making things infinitely more difficult. Two things had to happen before they could airlift the CL-215; they needed an exemption from Transport Canada to move the aircraft, which took a month to acquire. And the scooper’s weight had to be reduced enough to be lifted by the Chinook.
The CL-215 also had to be pulled out of the lake; its keel was full of water, which added a lot of weight — too much for the helicopter lift. It took three days, with six men taking turns to hand-crank the plane onto the lakeshore.
The CH-47 Chinook, operated by Montana’s Billings Flying Service, flew in October 30. (Imagine that phone call — you want us to what??) Mechanics from Buffalo and Billings flew in, and they were accompanied by the general manager of Alberta-based Airborne Energy Solutions; their team provided support and guidance on risk management for the operation.
“It was so bizarre to see such a big machine in remote little Mitchell Lake on Duck Island,” said Tessier. “They didn’t waste any time at all. Everything the pilot did was deliberate. He positioned himself in the wind, cable already dangling. We had a 50-foot extension cable going from the plane to where he hooked on. As soon as tension was there, it just went up. The Chinook didn’t budge, didn’t seem to struggle; there was no noticeable change in engine noise.”
The CL-215 took a 45-minute ride and was delivered to Buffalo’s main base at Yellowknife Airport. They say it will take a few months of repairs to return the CL-215 to serviceable condition, but they expect it will be ready in time for the 2024 fire season.
The full story by Lisa Gordon is well worth the read — it’s online at Vertical Magazine.
~ Thanks and a tip of the hardhat to Jim for this heads-up.
Also, the story of what might have been the first water drop by a helicopter on a fire
12:12 p.m. PDT Nov. 2, 2021
Mike Brown sent us an audio recording of helicopter cockpit radio traffic made during the Vietnam War when a helicopter was dropping water on a wildfire just outside Phu Loi Field north of Saigon in southern Vietnam. The facility was also known as Phu Loi Base Camp and Darkhorse Base.
Mike, the Unit Historian for the 213th Assault Support Helicopter Company (ASHC), said he believed the ship dropping the water was a CH-47 Chinook. In 2019 he sent us numerous photos of a Chinook battling a large structure fire in Saigon in 1970, found in a 213th ASHC Alumni Association photo album maintained by Don Skipper.
The Association’s website has a riveting article describing what may have been the first time a helicopter dropped water on an actual fire, after four helicopters crashed in a horrific nighttime chain reaction catastrophe in 1968 or 1969. It also describes in detail the water bucket assembly and how it was used.
In addition to the recording, Mike included the explanatory document, below, by Bob Patterson (BlackCat 3) who created the recording. I’m not sure, but I think the recording begins with “Tape 2”, the firefighting mission, which is followed at 14:09 by a recording from a 45 rpm record put out by the Boeing Vertol company.
Here are some tapes of BLACKCAT missions. The first one is a recording of a couple of ash and trash mission I flew in ’72 in the unit’s fairly new OH-58A. I will mention a couple of items to listen for, since perhaps guys not there in ’71-’72 would not know who was talking or what we were talking about.
1 was flying in the 213th OH-58, nicknamed the “Pussycat” with a tail number 947. In the last days just before the 213th stood down, we actually got two OH-58’s. At the time, I was the only pilot checked out in a ’58 and even I had gotten an in-country check out. MAJ Berdux, the CO, had given me some stick time and then got me a check out so that when he hit his upcoming DEROS there would someone who could fly the little bird. As a result, I had to fly most of its missions end work on OPS stuff from the cockpit the last 3 months I was in country. I was using my call sign of Blackcat 3. I departed from the 213th Flight Line and the parking spot for our 58 which was known as “The Sandbox”. Call sign “40P” was the call sign for 213th OPS. The SP4 in OPS who worked the radios for me was named MAC. But I can’t remember his full name. Super guy though. The flight was from Phu-Loi to Plantation and then back again a couple of times as I recall. I did talk with one or two of the 47’s out working the area that day.
I used a regular small tape recorder with a homebrew patch cord I made up in Avionics. It let me plug in my helmet to the recorder, then plug the recorder into the aircraft plug. The recorder ran all the time end recorded everything that came through the headset, so what you hear is real time. It might be interesting for you to hear the towers and radio traffic again. I have enjoyed listening to this on several occasions since that time. Seems like yesterday that I made it… Can it be over 30 years?
As I mentioned, I made this for a friend who was civilian commercial pilot and had asked and wondered what the traffic sounded like. As it turned out, I probably got more fun from this than he did!
In tape #2, we join Joker Swift talking to Blackcat 11 and Swift 55 on FM as 11 flies a Fire Bucket mission around a compound nearby at Phu-Loi just after midnight. AS I remember, the fire was outside the compound and near a minefield, which made for an interesting flight. Blackcat 11 was getting water from near the Phu Cong Bridge. He moved to a new location for water and finally took care of the problem. I was taping this from 213a OPS with an open Mic, and I am in the background talking to Warlord to get the Light Ship cancelled. You will note Blackcat 11 was talking about taking a few rounds from some shooter in the area. They get the mission done, change to tower frequency and then come home. Nothing exciting…but as you remember, pretty typical long day!
Following the Fire Bucket mission, you will hear a short tape I made from a 45 RPM record (remember those?) that the Boeing Vertol company put out [at 14:09]. After first tour in 68-69 with the 147th Hillclimbers, I returned to Rucker to become an 1P, Flight CDR, and then Assist Branch Chief of the Multi-Engine Branch at Hanchey AHP. During this time, Boeing was at the test board at Cairns AAF testing a lot of concepts on the CH47 to include a model called the Boeing Vertol 347. They took an A model CH-47 (as I recall) and cut the fuselage at a factory splice and made it about 4 feet longer. They cut the aft pylon off and raised it 30 inches and put back on. They then added two 4-blade rotor heads. The cockpit had really nice airliner seats with armrests (!), it had a retractable landing gear, and two new L-11C engines to top it off Lots of other ‘goodies’ on it too. Later they added a wing on each side to let it fly like a fixed wing at high speeds and to unload the rotor heads for straight and level flight. There was only one catch I was told… The beast could not autorotate. If it went down it went in like a F/W. Can you picture this thing? Well, anyway.., we use to meet with the Boeing engineers who would come and ask us what we wanted on a new bird, etc….. All we asked for was a second FM which hurt their feelings, as they wanted some fancy. (I think Chinooks have 2 FM radios today.) One interesting feature of the 347 was that with a 4-blade head, the rotor RPM was considerably lower than the A,B, and C models. As a result it was quieter, and it was pretty fast. However it just could not pick up anything with all this “stuff’ hung on it and the 347 was strictly a test vehicle.
This little record was one of only a few made that compared the sounds of the A, C and 347 models. You will surely find it interesting. I converted the record to tape years back and even used a stereo recorder to make the ‘fly by’ come out in stereo! Turn it up loud and you will get a kick from it flying by. The neighbors will surely call the airport too!! I contacted the Army Aviation Museum a few years ago, since they had the original 347 (only one built as I recall) and I offered them a copy of this tape, which they were delighted to get. (They did not know of the record.) The guy narrating the tape sounds like he just got out of bed after a bad hangover! Still, the sounds are interesting.
Mike, do what you want to do with these… Copy and give away or sell ’em to other Blackcats,..no problem to me. They belong to all of us! By the way, I cannot remember who was Blackcat 11 in 71-72. If 11 is out there, give him a copy of the tape, or tell him to contact me and I will send him one.
Enough for now, get a cup of coffee, sit back and take a trip back to Phu-Loi! ENJOY.
Bob Patterson (BlackCat 3 from 8-71 to 72 )
(end of document)
The video below found on YouTube is a slide show of images taken at Phu Loi Field during the war.
The group of four helicopters known as the Quick Reaction Force will be covered on 60 Minutes
12:07 p.m. PDT Sept. 24, 2021
(Update Sept. 27, 2021: CBS has what looks like the entire transcript of the piece that aired Sunday night.)
Sunday September 26 at 7 p.m. EDT 60 minutes will broadcast a piece about the very large helicopters being used in Southern California this year. They interview Brian Fennessy, Chief of the Orange County Fire Authority about the Quick Reaction Force that has been partially financed with nearly $18 million from Southern California Edison since June 15 this year.
This group of helicopters includes two 3,000-gallon Boeing CH-47D Chinooks based in Los Angeles and Orange Counties, a Sikorsky S-61 with a 1,000-gallon tank in Ventura County, and a Sikorsky S-76 to provide intelligence, evaluate effectiveness of drops, and identify targets with a laser designator. They are all crewed 24/7 and can hover refill with water or retardant at night assisting firefighters whenever they are needed. The helicopters are operated by Coulson Aviation and have either internal or belly tanks.
On August 18 they were dispatched to assist on the Caldor Fire, working out of Amador County Airport, also known as Westover Field.
Chief Fennessy believes in prompt, aggressive, initial attack of fires.
Reporter Bill Whitaker said to the Chief, “If somebody calls 911 you hit it with everything you’ve got. You knock it out.”
“In case of fire break glass!” the chief replied.
This is not the first time a privately owned Chinook has been used in California. In 2020 one operated by Coulson Aviation worked under an 83-day 24/7 contract in collaboration with Southern California Edison (SCE) and the Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA). Other Chinook operators used on fires that do not fly at night include the California National Guard, Billings Flying Service, Helimax, and Columbia.
The video below is a preview of the Sunday program.
Below is an excerpt from a CBS article about the helicopters:
“[Chief Fennessy said] the ability to lay retardant line, to continue to drop fire retardant after sundown, that’s a first,” he tells Whitaker. And there’s an added advantage: the fires usually die down at night because of decreased wind and increased humidity.
Wayne Coulson, the CEO of Coulson Aviation, is a pioneer in night firefighting. His company built the fleet with its specially designed tanks that carry either water or retardant. Computers control the tank’s doors, opening and closing at precise GPS locations.
“We can fly the aircraft to those GPS points and the doors will automatically open and close between those points,” Coulson says.
Two Chinooks and an S-61 — it’s being called a Quick Reaction Force Program.
Three counties in Southern California will be boosting their aerial firefighting capability this year with each adding one large contractor-owned helicopter.
Ventura, Los Angeles, and Orange counties each have their own fleets of helicopters that can be used for firefighting and search and rescue. But in Los Angeles and Orange Counties, the 3,000-gallon Boeing CH-47D Chinooks they will add this year can carry three to eight times the loads of their FireHawks, UH-1H’s, and Bell 412EP’s.
Ventura County will add a Sikorsky S-61 with a 1,000-gallon tank. It will supplement their UH-1’s and the new-to-them Firehawk that just returned from Colorado after being upgraded to Firehawk status with a new 1,000-gallon belly tank.
The program for the three helicopters is being financed with nearly $18 million from Southern California Edison.
Orange County will also have a Sikorsky S-76 to provide intelligence, evaluate effectiveness of drops, and identify targets with a laser designator.
The three counties will be calling this a “Quick Reaction Force Program.”
All four of these aircraft are being supplied by Coulson Aviation and will be staffed 24/7, capable of flying and dropping water on wildfires at night. They can also perform a maneuver that few helicopters have done in recent decades — refill their tanks while hovering over a water source at night. That is common, of course, during daylight, but rarely done in darkness using night-vision goggles.
The aircraft will be on contract starting June 15 ranging from 150 to 180 days.
Much of the funding for the helicopters is being supplied by Southern California Edison (SCE), expanding their program which supplied one or two helicopters based in Orange County in 2019 and 2020. In those years SCE paid the daily availability costs and when it was used on fires the hourly fees were covered by the jurisdiction in which the fire occurred.
In 2020 SCE and the Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA) leased a CH-47D Chinook from Coulson. The night-flying helicopter was stationed at the Los Alamitos Joint Forces Training Base in Orange County on a 24/7 schedule.
In 2019 the OCFA also had an arrangement with SCE for a 24/7 night flying helicopter. In that case Coulson supplied an S-61 capable of 1,000 gallons and a Sikorsky S-76. The S-76 was not leased in 2020 because it was going through an avionics upgrade getting ready for fighting fire in the upcoming Australian summer, but it will be part of the Quick Reaction Force Program in 2021.
It is likely that these and other helicopters will occasionally make use of the 69Bravo Helistop that is being upgraded with four metal 8,000-gallon automatically refilling water tanks. Designed to efficiently refill helicopters’ buckets or tanks, it is located on one of the highest peaks in the Topanga area of the Santa Monica Mountains in Los Angeles County.
The Chinook, Firehawk, and S-61 can get to and from water sources quickly cruising at 140 to 160 mph, while the S-76 with the pedal to the metal tops out at 178 mph.
They were working on contracts in Chile and Australia
With the 2020-2021 Southern Hemisphere wildfire season coming to a close Coulson Aviation firefighting aircraft are being brought back to North America.
Seven of their aircraft that were in Australia are already back at their home bases. Under contract in Victoria, Western Australia, and New South Wales were two C-130s, a 737 FIRELINER, three Sikorsky S61 helitankers, and a Sikorsky S76 aerial supervision platform. One of the C-130’s purchased from the Norwegian military that just finished its conversion into Tanker 132, made its firefighting debut in Western Australia.
As part of the demobilization of the four Coulson Chinooks from Chile, the helitankers were flown to a port and the blades removed before the helicopter was loaded into a cargo ship. The blades were packed into one of the helitankers and secured for the trip home. The photos above and below show some of the work involved behind the scenes with N49 CU.
Coulson’s six aircraft on contract in Chile are on their way back to North America now. That includes four CH47D Chinooks, one UH60 Blackhawk, and a Citation 550. The aircraft worked out of Talca, Concepción, and Los Angeles.
Coulson partnered with the Chilean company PESCO through separate contracts with plantation companies ARAUCO and CMPC. They had four CH47D Chinook helitankers, a UH60 Blackhawk, and a Citation 550 working on firefighting contracts in Chile.
Foster Coulson, Coulson Group President & COO, said an integrated multi-national team operated during the 2020-2021 Chile summer with more than 80 Coulson team members including pilots, flight engineers, maintenance, and management staff.
The Citation was used for gathering intelligence about the fires.
In 2019 Britt Coulson, Vice President of Coulson Aviation, told Fire Aviation they planned to acquire and convert for firefighting approximately 10 UH60 Blackhawks and 10 CH47D Chinooks. That same year the company purchased five C-130H’s from Norway.
Coulson said N43CU, seen below, has just completed an extensive heavy maintenance overhaul and complete airframe conversion into a Helitanker with their RADS-L Internal Tanking system capable of carrying up to 3,000 gallons. On April 7 it was in Port Alberni, BC and getting ready for its first ferry into the USA for a new coat of paint. This will be the fifth CH47D in Coulson’s fleet.
Coulson team members work all over the world supporting communities and firefighters which means adapting to different systems, operations and firefighting partners.
In Chile, it’s also meant adapting to operating in a different language. While some of the team members speak Spanish, each of the 4 Chinooks and a Blackhawk fly with a pilot translator whose job it is to translate the instructions from the aerial supervisor or ground crews.
Pilot Andy Thomas is currently flying a tanked Chinook in Chile and said it was a lot of fun working with the translators, some of whom have fire experience.
“A lot of the translators are highly experienced airline pilots who are a great help on the radios navigating the flight paths and fire operations,” he said.
Coulson pilot Colin Morgan, who has been operating a Chinook with a Bambi bucket, said the pilot translators did an amazing job in dynamic circumstances. Colin worked in Chile last year for Coulson, also flying a Chinook.
“The CH47 is, in my own opinion, the best helicopter operating today. It was designed for the military to be versatile, technologically advanced, yet forgiving and simple to operate. It’s also simply a pleasure to fly,” he said.
Andy, who has decades of experience operating heavy helicopters, said the Chinooks were designed to lift a tremendous amount of weight.
“With us that’s water, and it’s really good at it,” he said. “It’s a lot of fun to fly and it makes us pilots look good!”
Coulson has four Chinooks and one Blackhawk working on fire contracts in Chile.
The aircraft and crews will be assisting firefighters in Chile and Australia
Coulson Aviation is in the process of deploying firefighting aircraft to the Southern Hemisphere for the summer wildfire seasons in South America and Australia.
For several weeks they have had three Sikorsky S-61N helicopters in Australia and in November flew air tanker 137, a Boeing 737 (N137CG), across the Pacific to join the helicopters. They will also have a Sikorsky S-76B in the country.
Two C-130 air tankers, T-131 (N130FF) and T-132 (N132CG), departed from San Bernardino, California December 12 for Australia. They both recently received new livery, featuring a new paint design for the Coulson aircraft.
In the last week or so Coulson loaded two CH-47 Chinooks (N47CU and N40CU) and a Blackhawk onto a large ship to begin a voyage to Chile where they will assist firefighters.
A CH-47 Chinook Very Large Helitanker (VLHT) with night-flying capability operated by Coulson Aviation is working under an 83-day contract in collaboration with Southern California Edison (SCE) and the Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA).
Yesterday we had a successful exercise with @LACoFDPIO to showcase the new joint agency Helitanker.🚁 This is a regional asset that can be used in multiple counties to fight fires. The helitanker: •Takes 1 min to fill 3,000 gallons •Has a water drop cover of approx 10 acres pic.twitter.com/mzMC2j3pZr
Registered as N42CU, the Chinook is crewed 24/7 and available for responses day and night within the 15 counties served by SCE. The daily availability costs of $2.1 million for the contract period are being paid by SCE, while the hourly costs will be covered by the agencies responsible for the fire protection where the fires occur.
The Chinook is based at the Los Alamitos Joint Forces Training Base in Orange County. It can fill it’s 3,000-gallon internal tank while on the ground, or while hovering over a water or retardant source using its retractable snorkel hose.
To the best of our knowledge, here are the maximum capacities of firefighting helicopters, in gallons:
CH-47 Chinook 3,000 S-64 Air-Crane 2,650 S-70i Firehawk 1,000 CH-107 1,000 S-61 1,000 UH 60 900 or 1,000? K-Max 700 or less 214-B 660 212 359 412EP 375