Upload in Real Timean Ariel View of the Aftermath From the Woolsey Fire in Malibu
My showtime close-upward feel with the effectiveness of aeriform firefighting happened during the devastating Woolsey Fire in Southern California in 2018. Virtually 1,500 homes and other structures in my neighborhood and the surrounding expanse were destroyed by flames in a few days. The burn down started on a Thursday afternoon, and by the time the sun set up that Friday, 70,000 acres were scorched. 2 related problems can be blamed for the devastation: The strong winds spread the fires with immense speed; they too prevented the use of aerial support.
The flames of the Woolsey Fire flared up in the area of Simi Valley and sped all the manner down to the beaches of Betoken Dume and Malibu — a distance as an airplane flies of most xx miles. I'm sure the terminal thing the owners of the multimillion-dollar homes forth the beaches expected was for their houses to burn as a result of a wildfire.
The cloud of smoke and debris above the Santa Monica mountains on Friday morning looked like a massive Florida thunderstorm. Being evacuated from my domicile, I watched from the streets of San Fernando Valley as the brave firefighters from CalFire pointed their airplanes and helicopters toward the hills to attack the flames from the air. Drib by drop, they worked to minimize the devastation and make the work for the basis teams easier.
Organized firefighting efforts take existed since the days of ancient Rome, merely aeriform firefighting is, naturally, a more recent phenomenon.
Like most new endeavors, aerial firefighting had pocket-sized ancestry. Co-ordinate to the U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission, water or fire retardant would be dumped out of beer kegs or sprayed with common garden hoses carried in single-engine piston airplanes. In the early 1950s, military biplanes were modified to serve equally air tankers.
Today, many firefighting aircraft are helicopters and older twin-engine airplanes that are expensive to operate and maintain and, in some cases, have long turnaround times. During the Woolsey Fire, I saw massive DC-10 air tankers, which can release an phenomenal 12,000 gallons in only eight seconds; smaller twin-turbine North American-Rockwell OV-10As; and Erickson Aircranes—helicopters that wait like huge, otherworldly creatures sucking upwardly water from nearby lakes and waterways to drop on the fire.
With but ane engine to maintain and feed, and the ability to land on shorter strips, Single-Engine Air Tankers (SEAT) can serve a swell purpose for aerial firefighting. The Antonov A-2 was an early SEAT option, first used every bit such in the 1950s.
In the early 1990s, Air Tractor introduced the AT-802, an agricultural airplane with an 800-gallon hopper that was too turned into a firefighting version.
Air Tractor happens to be intimately related to Albany, Georgia-based Thrush Aircraft, which certified its SEAT aeroplane — the 510G Switchback — in Oct of 2018. The 510G has a 510-gallon hopper capacity and an 800 shp GE H80 engine. Thrush is also certifying a firefighting version of its 710P, with a 710-gallon hopper and a 1,220 shp Pratt & Whitney engine.
What truly sets the Switchback apart from other firefighting aircraft is its power to quickly switch to agricultural spraying operations. The fire gate is removed and the ag gate installed, a process that takes just a few minutes. The airplane is bachelor with i or two seats, allowing another person to fly forth for training or ascertainment purposes.
Thrush offers an in-house training programme that combines ground school, simulator and in-aircraft educational activity to help pilots who might not possess much of the necessary and unusual combination of experience — tailwheel and turbine — larn to successfully fly the Thrush.
At the typical takeoff weight of 10,500 pounds, a highly skilled pilot can take off in about i,500 anxiety in a 510G. Once the load is dropped and the airplane is lighter, the landing distance can be equally short as 350 feet using the beta thrust. This allows firefighters to drop in on grass strips most the site of a wildfire.
Thrush Aircraft was founded in 2003 when Payne Hughes bought the and so-defunct Ayres Corporation.
The company has roots in Snow Aeronautics, which was founded in the 1950s by legendary ag aircraft designer, Leland Snowfall.
"Leland Snow was the godfather of our industry," said Eric Rojek, vice president of sales at Thrush. "He birthed the agricultural shipping and and then Rockwell purchased his visitor from him. Leland left and started Air Tractor." And there lies the connection. Only despite being competitors, the companies piece of work together. "At Oshkosh we're both in the NAAA [National Agricultural Aviation Association] booth promoting the industry," Rojek said.
The name Thrush had goose egg to do with someone contracting an oral infection. Rojek said Rockwell had a history of naming airplanes after birds. The Thrush is a pretty, cinnamon-brown songbird with a spotted chest, native to the region. The aeroplane manufactory has been at Albany's Southwest Georgia Regional Airport (KALB) since 1965.
Rojek said two things have significantly changed the ag industry in the past 30 years. The beginning is the domination of turbine-powered engines, which resulted in increased reliability and bigger hopper capacities. The second is GPS for application catamenia command, which produced many benefits: the ability to automatically turn the menses on and off at precise boundaries; accept variable rate applications; and very precise invoicing with dates, times, and application rates. The GPS arrangement will even adjust the period as the ground speed changes on upwind and downwind passes over a field to maintain an even awarding. "Then at present the pilot can concentrate more on just flying the aeroplane," said Terry Humphrey, who heads upward flight tests and pilot training.
Standard on every Thrush is the MVP-50T electronic engine monitor from Electronics International with almost fifty different functions, including an active Yard-meter, onboard information recording and many ag-specific features. Precision agricultural application is enabled by a Differential GPS navigation system.
"It's a very accurate GPS system," Humphrey said. "Basically, you're but shooting i extremely precise localizer arroyo after another." The desired spray path is entered into the system. At the top of the instrument console is a light bar with dots that tell you lot when you are on the center line of the intended path. Several DGPS systems are bachelor for the Thrush.
Fire operations also use an electronic system that allows the operator to plan a full-salvo dump, 510 gallons in 2 seconds, a lengthened release, or multiple partial releases of the fabric in the hopper.
The Thrush also tin can be flown with night-vision goggles, which allows agricultural operators to spray at nighttime when winds are calm and the fields are costless of workers and full of bugs. An infrared system is as well available to enhance forward visibility in poor weather condition, such every bit smoky areas during firefighting operations. "It'due south a simple little ag airplane but the engineering science is really absurd. The industry is good for you, so everyone is investing more and more in using new technologies to do a better job," Rojek said.
Because the 510G has the ability to quickly switch from an agricultural to a firefighting airplane, Thrush is starting a plan chosen Ag SEATs. A firefighting airplane pilot needs what is referred to every bit a SEAT card issued by the U.South. Department of the Interior'due south Office of Aviation Services. So, Thrush is setting out to encourage ag pilots to go through the required accreditation. That manner, ag pilots tin utilize their Switchbacks for community firefighting operations.
Conversely, Switchbacks that are dedicated for fire ops tin can be used for other purposes. "Georgia Forestry, for instance, while their main mission is fire, now they can fertilize and seed, and if in that location is any blazon of breakout they tin can apply fungicide," Rojek said. "So, the ag-guys tin do fire and the fire guys can do other work, also." This allows the airplanes to generate revenue in other types of applications rather than being idle during the off season.
The biggest difference for a pilot flying ag versus fire is advice. In the Switchback, at that place are several radios that permit the airplane pilot to communicate with ATC, basis crew, the local sheriff, the fire boss, etc. During agricultural spraying, notwithstanding, there is rarely a demand to communicate with anyone.
Whether used for ag or fire, the rough environment requires that the airplanes be congenital tough. The Switchback has an all-metal roll cage and a primary spar that the FAA has approved for a lx,000-hr life limit. The spar is the only life-express component in the airplane. All other parts are replaced on condition.
Inside the factory, Rojek pointed out diverse processes that brand the metal pieces stronger and more corrosion resistant. It would be hard to bend this airplane if you tried. "The cool affair most Thrush is nosotros take the raw fabric in 1 door, load it, fabricate information technology and do pretty much the entire Thrush manufacturing procedure all in house," he said.
Ane big attestation to the pattern and manufacturing processes is the complete lack of Airworthiness Directives against whatsoever Thrush airplanes built after 2003. As whatsoever aeroplane owner knows, the lack of ADs means less maintenance, less reanimation and lower costs.
With the low-level flight demanded past agricultural and firefighting operations, ability lines and other cables can get in the way. Thrush incorporates a wire-strike protection system, with wire cut blades on the master landing gear legs, wire cutters and deflectors in front of the cockpit, and a wire deflector cable from the cockpit to the vertical fin. The surroundings also exposes the valuable turbine engine to dust and smoke.
A K&N filter, first used for off-route racing, is installed in the air intake and Rojek said it is 99 percent efficient for FOD prevention.
Thrush focused its design on ease of maintenance, so many inspection panels can exist removed quickly with camlocs. There are 37 removable panels on the wings lone to ease inspections.
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The 510G is equipped with an MVP-50T engine-monitoring system, which includes about 50 functions, some of which are specific to agricultural operations.
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Several dissimilar systems tin exist installed for firefighting purposes.
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While many airplanes exit the factory with electronic quantity indicators, lines on the composite walls of the hopper as well help the pilot know how much is left.
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The stick is linked to the ailerons through pushrods, helping create terrific maneuverability.
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Several DGPS options are available that assist agricultural and firefighting pilots make highly accurate applications.
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On the outside, the Thrush might appear to be a basic aeroplane. But there is a lot of advanced engineering science inside, prompting the need for a big circuit-breaker panel.
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Being a turbine-powered taildragger, the Thrush requires the airplane pilot to have potent stick and rudder skills.
What does it accept to exist an AG/firefighting pilot?
Fighting fires in a Single Engine Air Tanker is one of the coolest jobs a airplane pilot can accept. You fly fast at a low level, drop stuff out of the airplane and become the satisfaction of doing something that tin can help other people and/or the environment. But SEAT firefighting requires a somewhat odd combination of piloting experience: tailwheel and turbine.
Aspiring aeriform firefighters in Georgia have a path to become there. The Georgia Forestry Committee requires at least a Commercial Pilot Certificate, an Instrument rating and 500 hours. Pilots must wing wildfire patrol in a Cessna 182 for at least ane year and become certified wildland firefighters earlier moving on to actual firefighting. The pilots also exercise a lot of tailwheel training in a Decathlon before moving into the Thrush. "Nosotros try to get them signed off and go at least 150 hours of tailwheel before they can even start flight the Switchback, because it tin can be a scattering when heavily loaded," said Clay Chatham, GFC air operations supervisor.
In order to fly firefighting operations in the Thrush, pilots must have accumulated 1,500 hours of total flight time and take factory training and turbine-transition training. GFC bought two two-seat airplanes to train their ain pilots. The Thrush preparation program is followed by an additional 50 hours of dual flight educational activity by an in-business firm instructor and a check ride before they are considered "mission ready," Chatham said. The pilots also accept to attend a course at the National Aeriform Firefighting Academy, though at that place is no "carding" requirement for Georgia's pilots as in that location is for federal firefighting pilots. Each state has its own requirements, just several regulations use to all firefighting pilots, including strict dress codes, duty times and communications rules.
Chatham said he employs 25 part-time pilots for patrol missions only. Often they build some flight time and move on to the airlines. Just the full-time pilots stay. "One time they go on, they don't go out," he said. While the pay is nothing to write home nearly, with a total-time starting salary of $36,000 and average salary later on several years in the high 40s, the piece of work-life balance is simply also good. "Information technology'south skilful old-fashioned flying," Chatham said. "You lot're on your own, VFR, and we don't fly after dark, so we tin can have a good family life. Yous have a lot of discretion to become out and do what needs to be washed, and then you're not micromanaged at all, and you lot're doing something good for the state. It is a service job only like the police and structural firefighting, which we are very proud to exist a role of."
Playing with Burn
Wildfires were far from my mind every bit I entered the Thrush campus at KALB on a os-chilling, grey 24-hour interval in Jan. Just inside, the atmosphere was warm with the Georgia Forestry Committee'southward firefighting squad gathered in the training facility. While counter intuitive, winter is Georgia's fire season because this is when the castor dies and burns. There were no fires to fight the 24-hour interval I was there, but the pilots and ground-back up crew were in preparation mode.
GFC uses a mobile fueling station, which was parked exterior the Thrush mill along with two two-seat Switchbacks. Clay Chatham, GFC'south air operations supervisor, said they also apply a Decathlon for tailwheel preparation along with a Bong 407 helicopter for water drops and 16 182s for patrol, which is the organization's primary mission. Nine full-fourth dimension pilots support the entire land of Georgia. They patrol every day in that location is potential for fire. The squad's headquarters are in Macon, Georgia, but it has seven hangars effectually the country. "In theory we've placed them strategically then we have less than an hour'south response to any location in the state," Chatham said. "We find the fires early and go them out quickly."
He said the lower acquisition and operating cost of the Thrush versus the Air Tractor were big sellers as his budget required an economical airplane. "The maintenance cycles are actually good on the Thrush," Chatham said. "And we have really expert support from the company." The price of a Switchback is only across $1 meg. The higher-capacity Air Tractor costs about twice as much.
The chief mission for GFC is wildfire patrol. The Bell 407 was the only shipping it used for suppression and the helicopter is a vital tool. The Switchback SEATs are economical additions to the armada. "The Thrush is a lot more economic to operate." Having had the Thrushes for less than a year, Chatham hasn't had a hazard to summate numbers; simply he expects the cost of operation for the Thrush to be about half that of the Bell.
I had a chance to hop in the Bong and see how it scooped upwards h2o from a small pond at the airport. The pilot observes the Bambi bucket through a pocket-sized rear-view mirror mounted below the rudder pedals under the clear flooring. The bucket filled upwards in seconds and nosotros flew over to a spot that acted equally a pretend fire to drib the load. The turnaround was extremely fast, but this blazon of firefighting requires a nearby water source.
While not quite equally efficient, the Switchback's 510-gallon hopper tin can be refilled in only a few minutes with the mobile footing station that the GFC team built. A 3-inch wide port on the Switchback's fuselage makes this possible, and the pilot tin get out the engine running during the reloading process. With many ag strips around Georgia that pilots fly Thrushes into, Chatham's team can park its basis station near potential fires or get support from local fire departments.
The hopper tin carry either dry applications (seeding or fertilizer for agricultural operations) or liquid (apparently water or a powder mixture). The upper sides of the hopper accept run into-through composite panels with lines that signal how much material is inside. A similar small console is visible nether the instrument panel and there is a digital readout also. There is no mistaking the quantity within.
If you lot haven't figured it out already, the 510-gallon capacity gave rise to the numerical name. The G comes from the engine — a 800 shp GE H80 spinning a four-blade, reversible, 102-inch Hartzell propeller. The fuel burn is about l gph during fire work, Chatham said, so the 228-gallon fuel capacity allows for iv hours of solid piece of work. However, a trained crew can fuel and fill up the airplane with the engine running. "Literally they can crank it up and not turn it off until the end of the day," Rojek said.
Before I sat in a firefighting airplane I had the impression that the release of the load would be a violent matter. After all, the airplane relieves itself of more than 4,000 pounds of weight in a matter of seconds. But riding along in the back of the Switchback as Chatham dropped a load over the imaginary fire, the process felt completely smoothen.
To get a experience for how the Switchback flies, I jumped into Thrush's Redbird simulator, which Rojek claims is the first sim to be configured for agronomical operations. We started with a niggling bit of familiarization, then moved on to stall-spin sensation.
In the simulator, I got the stall indication at around 60 mph, an impressive number for an plane that can conduct such a heavy load. I had a adventure to have off with a light load followed by a heavy load. While I accept theoretically seen the effect of weight changes before, I had non experienced the extremes of a alter of thousands of pounds in a affair of minutes. The comparative sluggishness of the controls and increased takeoff distance with max gross weight was hitting. The airplane can take off with ten,500 pounds, giving it a remarkable useful load of 5,700 pounds.
While flight a pretend agronomical sweep over a field in the Redbird, I was suddenly surprised when Humphrey gave me a catastrophic engine failure. There was no time to react before I was on the ground — a stark demonstration of the extraordinary skills required by a successful ag pilot. The Redbird training will help Thrush pilots be prepared when something catastrophic happens, such as an engine failure, loss of aileron command or flight into IFR conditions. (The Switchback is VFR but).
During Thrush's preparation programme, "the goal for the twenty-four hours in the sim is to scare you," Rojek said.
Thrush 510G Switchback: By the Numbers
| Base cost | $ane,045,000 | Engine | GE H80 |
| Horsepower | 800 shp | Propeller | Hartzell, 4-bract |
| Seats | i or two | Length | 33 ft. 11 in. |
| Top | 9 ft. 6 in. | Wing area | 365 sq. ft. |
| Wingspan | 47 ft. 6 in. | Ability loading | xiii.ane lb./hp |
| Typical Operating Weight | ten,500 lb. | Empty weight | four,800 lb. |
| Payload | 5,700 lb. | Hopper Capacity | 66 cu. ft/510 gal. |
| Max Usable Fuel | 228 gal./1,528 lb. | Max Operating Distance | 12,000 ft. |
| Max Charge per unit of Climb | 1,400 fpm | Never Exceed Speed | 163 kts |
| Max Cruise Speed | 43 ktas | Normal Operating Speed | 130 ktas |
| Stall Speed, Flaps Up | 82 kias | Stall Speed, Full Flaps | 76 kIas |
| Takeoff Distance Over fifty ft. | 2,150 ft. | Landing Distance Over 50 ft. | 2,050 ft. |
| Engine TBO | 4,000 hrs. | Max Range | 695 nm |
Flying the Thrush
Ag has a double pregnant when it comes to the Thrush. Not only is it made for agricultural work — the pilot needs agility in guild to fly it. Checking the oil requires some climbing moves to get to the oil door in front end of the hopper. In that location is a footstep on the left side of the nose to stand on. Humphrey as well showed me how to tiptoe onto the border of the window earlier stepping downwardly into the airplane pilot's seat.
With the large windows surrounding the cockpit, the visibility in the 510G is spectacular. Even on the ground the forward visibility is decent in the front seat, despite the tailwheel configuration; withal, I had to lean a piffling to the side and occasionally make a slight plow on the ground to get a practiced view of the taxiway line. Taxiing was different than I am used to in a tailwheel airplane. Belongings the stick back locks the tailwheel straight, so I had to concord neutral or slight forward pressure to release the wheel in turns. Turns are fabricated with differential braking, which I had no problem with.
This is the most fun type of flying there is, in my stance, but it naturally comes with more risk than flight on an IFR flight program at 23,000 feet.
With the big turboprop upward front it was no surprise that the takeoff required much more rudder work than that of the piston taildraggers I've flown and certainly a ton more than than my Mooney. It was a wakeup call that I demand to get back in a tailwheel plane more often. I miss the challenge. The barndoor-size rudder also requires a lot more attention in the air. Humphrey had to remind me several times to keep the brawl in the center.
Considering the operations of the Thrush require good maneuverability, the plane was built to plough — not to cruise. You can't only allow get of it and there is no autopilot.
Chatham, whose background includes all kinds of backcountry flight, described the Switchback every bit a handful, and I would agree. But that'southward the kind of flight I relish.
In banking company, control response is terrific thanks to the pushrod controls for the ailerons. The rudder, notwithstanding, is controlled through cables.
We set off to do some mock aerial application on an open field. Sweeping back and forth, Humphrey showed me how to make passes below the tree tops that fenced in the field, then pull upwards to get above the line of trees at the end of the field before making a teardrop turn back to the line. Unlike the Air Tractor, the Thrush does non require flaps to brand abrupt turns, though in that location are 15 degrees of flaps available. Thrush too offers a fume system to aid pilots cheque for wind drift.
This is the most fun type of flying at that place is, in my stance, but information technology naturally comes with more adventure than flying on an IFR flying programme at 23,000 feet. I was happy to know that I was safely secured in the seat with the Hooker harness, which too includes AmSafe's seatbelt/airbag organisation.
At present here is a stat that we don't mostly study when evaluating airplanes. With the Thrush, "you've got an average seventy-pes swath at 150 mph. This thing's rocking out 20 to 25 acres per minute," Rojek said. As a firefighting airplane, the Switchback's gatebox can driblet its 510-gallon load in ii seconds.
My one landing in the Switchback was far more exciting than I had hoped. Information technology's a great thing that the airplane is built tough with 29-inch high flotation tires, and that I had Humphrey in the back to help. But it made me want to go out again and again to learn to master this monster.
Source: https://www.flyingmag.com/we-fly-thrush-510g-switchback/
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