August 2016 August News
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CFPA AUGUST 2016 AUGUST NEWS THE CALIFORNIA FIRE PILOTS ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER CLOSE AIR SUPPORT DOZER, A BLADE TANK STORY PART 1 AWAY FROM THE ONCE UPON A TIME... FLAMES IN THE WEST CFPA NEWS Caught on tape….Radio Traffic.... Caught on tape…Radio Traffic…… (ATC: Air Traffic Control) Editor : Jerome Laval Tanker XY: Center, Tanker XY request descent… ([email protected]) ATC: You're going all the way to the ground, right? Tanker XY Pilot: Oh, I hope not! Editorial Staff : Cyril Defever, (chuckles on the frequency..) Frédéric Marsaly, Franck Mée ATC: Huh… I meant low level! Tanker XY: Yes, we fly very low level! Designer : Philippe Laurent ------------------------------------ ([email protected]) ATC: Tanker KZ, I need you to stay at or above 2000 feet! Tanker KZ: But Sir, I need to start my descent, I can't fight fires and Contributors to this issue : drop Retardant from that altitude... ATC: (Hot potato?)… (Pause)… Contact HY Approach and check with Antoine Grondeau, Michael Archer, them! Steve Whitby, Wes Schultz, ------------------------------------------------- Ken Lancaster, Ryan Petersen, ATC: Tanker XX, Radar contact, what's your destination? Kit Robinson and Roger Cain. Tanker XX: A Fire South of… (%&@... blocked) ATC: Huh? Ok near which airport? Tanker XX: I believe the closest airport is YXZ If you wish to contribute to our ATC: Are you landing there? Newsletters with articles, stories, Tanker XX: No! The nearest Reload Base is ZKY! photos, videos, or just want to ATC: So you're landing there, at ZKY? suggest interesting links, please do. Send us your work in text Tanker XX: Probably… Don't know yet... I can be cancelled or diverted format (txt, doc, docx, rtf) and to another Fire or maybe I'll go there! Who knows? photos as jpeg files. (And please, ATC: (frustrated)… You guys... no PDF with your own layout!) ---------------------------------------------------- ATGS*: Tanker VY: Clear to Drop. Photos: size 2400 px on the Tanker VY: (Dropping)... Clear and Empty! longest side, with your name on ATGS: Huh... Ok... Well... the photo (watermark) or in the Tanker VY: Is that where you wanted it? filename for credit. ATGS: Huh... One full drop early... How about you load and hold... Another voice chimes in: and HIDE! (Chuckles) And please, feel free ------------------------------------------------------- to print the Newsletter and share it around! Airport Tower: AA XX, traffic 2 O’clock high, Dash 8! AA XX: AA XX looking! Airport Tower: Horizon HH, Traffic 10 O’Clock, OV-10 Bronco! Horizon HH: What's a Bronco? AA XX: (Assertive) What's a Dash 8? Horizon HH: Touché' *ATGS : Air Tactical Group Supervisor 2- CFPA NEWS - AUGUST 2016 NEWS CAL FIRE PROJECT X In Sacramento McClellan, in Dyncorp facilities, work is ongoing on future new Cal Fire tanker. (Photos by Wes Schultz) 3- CFPA NEWS - AUGUST 2016 NEWS ‘SULLY’ was thinking about writing a cold water of the Hudson River in review about "Sully", an excel- 280 seconds. This is January, Ilent movie directed by Clint snow is still on the ground. Cold Eastwood with Tom Hanks por- air freezes everyone in the traying Captain Chesley "Sully" streets of New York. Sullenberger: two sufficient rea- A defining moment for the pas- sons to go see the movie anyway. sengers who put their lives and We all remember the Miracle Ap- trust in aircrews every day, in proach of US Air Flight 1549, on every part of the world. A normal January 15th 2009, ditching in flight. Boarding, late passengers the Hudson. All 155 souls aboard happy they made it and are on survived that very "defining mo- board, fasten your seat belt, pre- ment" of their lives. The movie is pare for take off... well made with excellent actors A weird chock, turbulence? All and, really, you should go just to goes in the dark: "Head down, watch 280 seconds of flight be- stay down" is ordering the flight tween the bird strike and the im- crew. 280 seconds…"Brace for pact. Just watch how a Pilot in impact" says the Captain and Command realizes what's hap- and makes a decision! A life and then, your airplane is ditching in pening, checks all the options death decision – for himself and the river! "Evacuate... Evacuate!" 154 people depending on his ex- And you end up walking on a perience and judgment. The CRM sinking wing! Feet in the cold (Crew Resource Management) is water. What the hell’s just hap- impeccable; First Officer Skyles pened? Well, I'm alive! Everyone who took off from New York La seems to be OK, it's freaking Guardia and had the controls cold but we're OK and boats are until the Captain told him "I have coming this way. We made it! the aircraft". Then Jeff Skyles as- Never forget the Human Factor! sisted the best he could his Cap- Sully had 40 years of flying, tain in the most professional thousand hours in the air. Take- manner one can expect. A well offs, landings, and as a pilot, all experienced, trained and skilled sort of mechanical and weather crew working together. problems to solve. A defining moment for the Flight Attendants who performed their duty just like they do in training. Checking on passengers before and after the impact, repeating their orders to the passengers. This is not training, this is hap- Aaron Eckhart Hanks as Sully as Jeff Skiles (Warner Bros) pening. From a routine flight to (Warner Bros) Charlotte, North Carolina to super 4- CFPA NEWS - AUGUST 2016 NEWS Jeppesen published this humoristic approach chart to honor flight 1549's skills and airmanship. Clint and Sully (Warner Bros) they were just doing their job, in- vestigating and coming up with a full factual report but you need bad guys in a movie... Sully gives them and for that mat- ter, all of us, a fan- Tom Hanks and Aaron Eckhart as Captain tastic lesson. Sully and Officer Skiles (Warner Bros) Never forget the Human Factor! That's what pilots do; solve prob- Aviation History is filled with Because, that's what Pilots do! lems, adapt and overcome. defining moments since the first Remember: Fly the airplane ! That's called Experience! All one when the one of the Wright Jerome Laval these flight hours, all that experi- Brothers got airborne. Some are Tanker 85 ence in a cockpit makes you well known and some are just Aware! Makes you understand, part of each pilot's personal Ps: "Sully" Cocktail: Grey Goose analyze, see and refine your de- flight experience and will never Vodka, Ice cubes and a Splash of cision makings process for the go public. water! Cheers! To Sully! best outcome. Aerial firefighting is filled with In the movie the bad guys are the these defining moments as we all Sully : Directed by Clint Eastwood FAA and NTSB; dark suits and know, very challenging flying, Written by Todd Komarnicki Based on Highest Duty by Chesley long faces questioning the Pilot every flight and every drop. Sullenberger and Jeffrey Zaslow (William Morrow, 2009) in Command's decision, doubt- These seconds, minutes and de- Starring : Tom Hanks (Chesley Sullen- ing his judgment and skills, rely- cisions are part of each pilot's berger) ; Aaron Eckhart (Jeffrey Skiles); Laura Linney (Lorraine Sullenberger) ing more on machines and Treasure Chest which makes them Running Time : 96 minutes simulators than the Pilot, the experienced, and able carry on, Budget $60 millions Released September 9, 2016 man. I believe that, in real life, take off and fly one more time... 5- CFPA NEWS - AUGUST 2016 NEWS WILDFIRE NEWS OF THE DAY California Wildfire News Compilation by Michael Archer (1) Santa Maria Air Attack Base reported that (5) A photo spread and interviews provide a DC-10s did not end up having to be re-routed behind-the-scenes looks at CAL FIRE's Rohnerville Monday due to a power outage in the area that Air Attack Base's operations. affected the base. The Red Stuff and More: A Visit to Cal Fire’s Air DC-10 still flying out of Santa Maria air tanker Attack Base in Rohnerville base http://kymkemp.com/2016/08/26/the-red-stuff- http://www.ksby.com/story/32899933/ and-more-a-visit-to-cal-fires-air-attack-base-in- dc-10-still-flying-out-of-santa-maria-air-tanker-base rohnerville/ (2) The Chico Fire Investigation Team is trying to de- (6) A letter from an Apple Valley resident advo- termine whether an engine fire on an air-tanker at cated for a fleet of CL-415 and DC-10 air-tankers Chico Airport sparked a wildfire south of the airport. to deal with Southern California wildfires. Air tanker may have sparked small grass fire at Water-dropping Super Scoopers put fires out airport before they spread http://www.actionnewsnow.com/news/ http://www.dailybulletin.com/opinion/20160825/ air-tanker-may-have-sparked-small-grass-fire-at-airport/ water-dropping-super-scoopers-put-fires-out-be- fore-they-spread (3) Wildfire NOTD subscriber David Baskett, Santa Maria Airport Board Director (http://www.intl-emergencyservices.com), (7) A new Bell 214 helicopter operated under commented on the loss of a reverse thruster part contract with CAL FIRE by Red Bluff-based on a DC-10 taxiing at Santa Maria Air Attack Base. PJ Helicopters is now stationed in Auburn to Part off of DC-10 air tanker falls off plane while provide first-strike capability on wildland fires. taxiing on Santa Maria runway Fire Power: Auburn-Based Copter A Firefighting http://www.keyt.com/news/-part-off-of-dc10-air- Rock Star tanker-falls-off-plane-while-taxiing-on-santa- http://www.auburnjournal.com/article/8/25/16/fire maria-runway/41426960 -power-auburn-based-copter-firefighting-rock-star (4) Air-tankers out of Columbia Air Attack Base dropped about 30,000 gallons of retardant on a To sign up for Wildfire NOTD, click here: 65-acre wildfire before sundown Monday in a http://archercopywriting.com/newsletter.html steep, rugged canyon of the Tuolumne River below Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in the Stanislaus National Forest.