The intent of this portion of the module for helicopter operations safety is to improve our safety with working with helicopters
And the way we're going to do that by the way, we're going to improve safety is by limiting exposure and how?
We limit exposure is by improving the efficiency of working with helicopters
and how do you improve efficiency is through better communications both through verbal and visual and
giving good honest feedback
with a pilot
The whole communications process is for them to communicate to me what they want
Because I don't want to haul buck haul a bucket of water. Maybe five miles and not put it where they want
Working with helicopters your too many hazards as a firefighter some you can control and some you can't and
the ones that you can control can be mitigated or dramatically reduced by practicing good situational awareness and
proactive communications the firefighter when working with helicopters
Is asking the helicopter to perform in a place of its performance where it's it's slow speed and low altitude
Which doesn't allow it the ability to recover in the event of a loss of power?
So the least amount of time you want to ask the pilot to be in that what we call the dead man's curve
The less exposure that pilot has and then the less time you're underneath it at any point in time if something happens
It can come down directly upon you so you want to just go ahead and make that mission as brief and efficient as possible
Whether you're calling in the drop or whether you're just a firefighter standing by it's real important to consider your location in
relation to
What's above you if the helicopters come in for a drop you need to realize you know the rotor wash itself or the drop from?
The bucket or the water can dis stop dislodge debris and throw it upon you the medium and heavy hello tankers
Can drop you know anywhere from 300 to 2,000 gallons at once and that's a great deal of weight?
You know gallon of water is 8.3 pounds time mm. We do the math
That's a lot of weight coming down at once so you really need to be taking
Consideration where you're at and consider your escape route to move out of the area clearly
Before you launch you definitely need to take into
Consideration is this the right the right tool for the objective that you're hoping to achieve on the fire
What is your tactical objective?
communicating your tactical objectives when you place an order is really important if you're on a large fire to communicate that to
The air attack or if it's an initial attack situation to communicate that to the to the manager of the crew coming in
How are you going to use that helicopter and then also have a back-up plan if it comes in and gets a chip light or?
Another priority comes up that you have some other way of meeting your tactical objective not relying on that on the aviation resource
some fire fighters out there do try and
Explain their you know tactical objective to the pilots and some some fire fighters. Just make an assumption that the pilots been here
He's done that
He knows what he you know what they want done
And and they're making the assumption the manager is going to do that with the pilot
But really the ownership is placed on the IC to explain exactly what it is that you're trying to do on the fire
There's a smaller fire sometimes you can anticipate you know we may only need you for a few buckets, and then we'll release you
It's just another tool. It's like a you know
Pulaski or a shovel or chainsaw that you use it on the fire
It's a way to put the fire out and when you're done with it
You need to just put it down as a pots coming in if he doesn't know your location you definitely want to
Consider the aircraft as a clock you know with the nose being 12 and the tail of it being six and out there right door
to the side will be
Three and then out the left will be nine and as you're coming in you you explain your position in relation to them you know
At your 12 o'clock low or I met your you know 1 o'clock high, whatever it is. It's coming in low or high
Once they have you in position
Then you can explain
You know your position in relation to the parts of the fire
Whether it be the heel or the left flank or right flank or the head of the fire?
And I would ask people to refrain from using the cardinal directions
such as north south east or west cardinal directions are really tough because
Especially if I'm hanging out the window, and I'm turning around I'm looking for you
I'm not paying very much attention to which direction is south which direction is West
Think about what it is you're gonna say before you push the button on a radio and that goes with any fire
Communications don't just key the radio and start thinking think about what you're gonna say first think about
Phrasing it and the shortest possible means and then key the radio and say what it is you're gonna say and when you're done
You know a lot of people talk
Consider what it is that the pilot is doing inside the aircraft when he's bringing a long line
Load to you or a bucket drop to you because he's manipulating the aircraft in its highest performance curve
He's he's operating it at low altitude and it's slow forward air speed, and he's having to avoid all the hazards
And he's very busy looking out the window
Trying to keep you safe and trying to keep the load safe so if you call him, and he doesn't answer
He's busy to just realize he'll be getting back to you and not be
Impatient when you're talking to him
Feedback is real important to the pilot
You need to
To communicate you know was the drop accurate was it, too
Early was it late and getting that given that honest feedback directly to the pilot and they can also communicate to you
your directions
You know maybe your directions weren't very efficient, or you know lack some clarity
and you know clearing up that communication will make the second or third drop more efficient and
reduce the exposure time
When you've ordered an aircraft to support you on a fire we want to designate a competent firefighter that
understands how to communicate clearly and concisely and briefly to the pilot
And you want to make sure that if you're expecting aircraft that you're monitoring that frequency
And you're not scanning other channels that can override
the priority of the traffic coming through so that
That there's very little hang time in the air for the pilots train and get a hold of people
the consequences of a
pilot not being able to contact the ground contact if forces applied to burn circles in the air and
In trying to make contact with the ground person
And if they if they just can't they're not going to start doing
Any work on that fire until they can it's a waste of time. It's inefficient and flight time is expensive
And it's just putting everybody at a greater risk the worst
Situation is when I get all the way over there still haven't got to hold anybody
And I'm just flying around with a bucket load of water
And they're not hermetically sealed I mean there's water leaking out and you're flying around burning up flight time
It is important to
Understand that the resource that you're working with the helicopter and crew that's coming in may not be from your area and don't make any
assumptions that they know the local landmarks or the local vegetation types or the local fire behavior
And how it will be affected by the vegetation that's burning into and try and keep that in mind
As you're asking specifics of the pilot, it's entirely appropriate to ask the pilot
How is it you want me to call in the drop?
Do you want me to show you a panel and put it exactly on the drop where I want it?
What is the best way for us to communicate and work this out?
the pilots coming in before they've ever landed or set up for the buck at work you say I
Met the helo fire
Do you understand where that's at do you have the he'll the fire and they'll say yeah?
And then do you have the head of the fire and the larger fires it'll be pretty obvious you know with it
The area of the most intense heat is you say all right you understand the left flank right flank
This is how we got it going setup, and and then once you have that common ground established. That's the best part
The perspective from the air is much different than the perspective of the ground and don't assume that the pilot knows exactly what you're seeing
Topography looks different fire size looks different people are hard to see and hard to locate so really take into consideration
in what it is you're explaining for the drop or the mission as a ground firefighter when you're working on the slopes such as a
thirty percent slope to you it might appear moderately steep and a lot of times the
Directions are given is I want the next drop directly upslope of that from a pilot's perspective
The topography isn't as obvious from his angle of flight
That 30 percent slope might look totally different to him and it might appear more flat
And it's more difficult for him to understand what up slope and down slope is
So it's helpful to be a little bit more specific on how it is you want the job?
Of the ridge from here, what direction
Where's north
It is important to identify it yourself if you're calling in the drop to the pilot so they can
You know understand that perspective from what you want from what they're seeing and a way to do that is
um if you feel comfortable
And you're not concerned with the overhead hazards you can take off your hardhat and wave it see if they see you or
If you have a piece of high visibility orange paneling you can waive that they tend to see that pretty clearly
and if not you can take a bunch of pieces of
orange or pink flagging
Tie it on the end of a tool and wave your tool back and forth until they establish that they have seen you there
flashes are
wonderful
Okay
And just make sure you communicate to the crew only you are going to identify
Yourself and not everybody if you are choosing to use a trainee make sure you have a confident person with them initially
Establishing communications, and then maybe allow the trainee to to have some opportunities as the drop is being called in a little bit later
The way we're going to improve safety is by limiting exposure and
How we limit exposure is by improving the efficiency of working with helicopters?
And how do you improve efficiency is through better communications both through verbal and visual and giving good honest feedback
with the pilot