SCROLL DOWN TO REACH DESIRED (NUMBERED) ARTICLE:
1. 2010 AAF SEE (Safety, Effectiveness, Efficiency) LIST.
2. Early airtanker pilots active in S.E. Asia and other theaters.
3. United we stand---divided we may all fall.
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1. 2010 AAF SEE (Safety, Effectiveness, Efficiency) LIST.
The AFF Safety Committee attempts to identify hazards, deficiencies, and opportunities (equipment, practices) in aerial fire suppression operations, and to bring them to the attention of agencies, contractors, and aircrews. Although we may lack the resources, manpower, support, and/or authority to implement solutions, we will do what we can to mitigate dangers and to promote improvements. AFF members are encouraged to become involved in these projects, and/or to identify additional SEE (Safety-Effectiveness-Efficiency) related items.
*** Priority Items:
***Monitor aircraft inspection practices, including stress monitoring, and maintenance standards.
***Establish a Safety Management System partnership between agencies, contractors, and crews; the current system is sometimes a one-way top-down hierarchy flow.
*** Minimize “Mission Mentality”. Treat wildfire suppression as a profession, not an ad-hoc emergency response. It is too important to get excited about. Adding a pile of crumpled aluminum and Jet-A to a fireline, or wasting a load of retardant because you were rushing, only adds to the problem
***Improve communication, including direct contacts between agencies and aircrews on items of an operational or safety-related nature, expanded/interactive (two-way) use of the Internet with high-speed wireless routers on airbase computer systems, enhanced and sanitized SAFECOM/FC-119 incident/hazard reporting with feedback (similar to NASA ACRS and FAA ASAP programs), line pilot and mechanic participation in agency review and planning functions, and periodic 1-on-1 tailgate sessions. Get managers out in the field, flying or observing airtanker/leadplane missions as often as practicable.
***Provide training and support for active line pilot and mechanic participation in all aviation fire suppression incident/accident investigations. Scholarships to the U.C.Davis Emergency Response Aviation Safety Management Course, or ALPA/USC Accident Investigation courses would be a good way to start.
***Establish, monitor, and enforce minimum training requirements and standards for contractors, and include bid/contract incentives for contractors who provide appropriate enhancements. Agencies should request, then respond to, unfiltered direct feedback from trainees. Consider training outsourcing for increased objectivity and specialized expertise (IFR simulators, USFS/MCC FireSim, upset recovery/advanced maneuvering courses in appropriate aircraft such as AirCombatUSA.com), and to ease pressure on pre-season maintenance scheduling of airtankers. Institute pre-season TEAM TRAINING with ATGS/ACMs, leadplanes, and airtankers (rotor-wing, VLAT, LAT, S2T, scoopers, SEATs, MAFFS, etc), preferably in both aircraft and FireSim. Include scored drops (batting practice) in airtankers.
Eliminate "silent intimidation"; institute an improvement-focused non-punative response and appeal process for complaints about aircrews by agency personnel, and vice versa.
Establish Professional Standards Committees to deal with questionable crew performance internally, pro-actively, expeditiously.
Evaluate short- and long-term effects on proficiency from not flying for 6-8 months each year, year after year, especially for pilots on short or low-time contracts. Identify and support opportunities for off-season proficiency flying and continuing education related to aerial fire suppression (on-line courses?).
Establish objective, appropriate medical requirements for aircrews of all ages to ensure safe operations, while at the same time precluding arbitrary age discrimination.
Establish, in conjunction with FAA and NASA, airtanker certification standards based on typical operational usage and stresses, including a comprehensive, published, and disseminated study of cumulative effects of airtankers landing loaded and sitting loaded, and aerodynamic/structural analysis of retardant-drops and other typical operational stresses on airtankers.
Install CVR (cockpit voice recorders) and FDR (flight data recorders) with data download capability, and/or cockpit video recorders, to assist in accident investigations, trend analysis, ASIP (Aircraft Stress Inspection Program), training/checkride debriefs, and FOQA (Flight Operation Quality Assurance) programs.
Establish FOQA programs to deal with training, inspection/maintenance, work rules (cumulative fatigue), and operational procedures.
Identify and promulgate procedures for high-density airports and congested areas that mitigate environmental effects and potential hazards on the ground in the event of a jettison, and that do not expose aircrews to unnecessary risks or potential legal action.
Petition agencies to define the legal rights, obligations, and liabilities of tactical pilots acting for government agencies, and provide liability insurance, and/or a waiver, for aircrews. Currently, the potential effects on a flight crewmember and their family from a lawsuit or certificate action resulting from fire suppression activities could be devastating.
Establish easily-accessed pre/post incident communication forums between fixed-wing, rotor-wing, SEAT, MAFFS, VLATs, and ATGS/ATM/Leadplane aircrew representatives. We work in very close proximity on fires but have separate training, and it is extremely rare that we ever brief or debrief together. We are not always on the same frequency or the same page. NAFA and NAFA II are a good start. A secure and protected (sterile) internet site could be another channel of communication and sharing.
Continually assess and publicize operational fatigue factors (mental, emotional and physical), including dehydration (cold bottled drinking water readily available at all bases at all times, not just on “busts”), aircraft environmental systems, base rest facilities, and requirements for pilots to wash airtankers (assign loaders/firefighters to help?).
Monitor meal provisions for guest crews at AABs; nutritious, timely, and appropriate (cold, greasy, breaded chicken or Mexican specials, mystery meat, or make-it-yourself plastic sandwiches do not fill the bill).
Establish dispatching procedures and work rules that recognize and address the safety and morale consequences of extended duty hours over extended periods (days/weeks), especially away from home, and that compensate with compensatory paid time off, at home, during slack periods. Award bid points to contractors that provide aircrews and mechanics relief and time at home equivalent to that of contracting agency personnel.
Provide paid sick leave for aircrews, and sufficient relief pilots to realistically cover activated aircraft.
"Liquidated damages" is an incentive to fake it when aircraft (or aircrew) maintenance is needed. Also, consider the pressures inherent in an emphasis on flight pay for contractors and/or pilots. Both conditions are unquestionably an encouragement to "press".
Monitor the FAA Capstone project, multistatic dependent surveillance for in-flight tracking and diverts, TARMS, HUD, EVS (IR), SVS, and similar technologies that offer enhanced safety, effectiveness, and/or efficiency in airtanker operations. Promote their acquisition and utilization where appropriate.
Evaluate risks and loss of effectiveness inherent in using tankers close to sunset. What is the risk/reward tradeoff? If low-light/restricted visibility operations are to be conducted, conduct an in-depth study, with line airtanker pilot participation, of military low-level night ops procedures and state-of-the-art NVG and associated equipment. Synthetic Vision Systems (SVS) may seem a fantasy for us at this point in time, but it could make sense in some situations in the future.
If airtanker crews are allowed to operate IFR/IMC, require aircraft to be adequately equipped and fully functional for IFR flight, with appropriate current charts and publications. Insure crews have received adequate realistic IFR recurrent training in type, and are legally current and proficient for IFR/IMC flight in type.
Evaluate cockpit workload (task saturation), especially in single-pilot aircraft without autopilots. ACARS would be a tremendous asset in our operation.
Publish a "user-friendly" (intelligible) Interagency Airtanker Operations Manual, consolidating applicable FARs, agency requirements, standardized operational procedures, and an “open” section for individual contractor notes. This, along with AFMs, should be a “living” document, subject to regular (at least annual) review, with easy updating. Availability on the internet would be a huge plus.
Push for concise, standardized, up-to-date AFMs (Aircraft Flight Manuals), with simplified and logical procedures conforming to basic human factor principles (flow, minimal memory items, etc). There are many items of technique, procedure, and system operation that have been learned in fire operations over the years that would dictate appropriate changes to a 30-50 year-old military or airline AFM.
Evaluate heat stress/dehydration effects of Nomex flight suits.
Evaluate a basic smoke hood for aircrews.
Evaluate appropriate supplemental oxygen breathing systems for aircrews.
Evaluate fuel tank inerting systems appropriate for airtanker operations.
Equip all bases with MicroMotion monitors, and load tankers by weight, not gallons (with volumetric overflow/safety valve backup).
Provide Density Altitude information for each takeoff to alert crews to performance degradation. DA could be included on the dispatch sheet and/or with a radio call when taxing, and/or with acknowledgement of the “rolling” call.
Walt Darran, AFF Safety Committee
2. Early airtanker pilots active in S. E. Asia and other theaters.
This 1988 16-page article is an incredibly detailed account of the early days of airtankers, CIA "proprietaries", and how they worked together outside the spotlight to do what (they thought) needed to be done : http://www.bollyn.com/index.php?id=10684
Quite a few airtanker pilots, and others associated with the airtanker industry, were active in South East Asia in the 1960-70s.
Don Ornbaum, Bob Wofford, Carl Kennedy, John Wiren, Ray Salucci, Terry Luther, Morrie Kensler, and Bert Foote flew for Air America (AAM) and flew tankers before and/or after their SEA tour.
Continental Air Services (CASI), which did roughly the same job in the same places, recruited a bunch of tanker jocks in mid-season during a operator/pilot squabble in the mid 60’s, including Joe Hammer, Joe McCoy, Bob Johnson, Dick Douglas, Jim Betts, Buck Radcliffe, Al Schwartz, Al Adolph, and Phil Barnett (mechanic). They were the mainstay of CASI’s Pilatus Porter STOL program, which entailed aerial supply drops into minuscule drop zones (SSDD).
Jim Ramage (CDF/USFS) flew choppers for AAM in Saigon. Larry Moore (FireTrol) was a "customer" on the ground near the Golden Triangle in Laos collecting ears with Tony Poe (Poshepney). Don Gearke would occasionally make an appearance in Thailand or Laos; he later flew for BLM out of Boise. Ernie Brace ("A Code to Keep": GREAT book! Amazon.com), Bird & Sons Porter pilot, was captured by Pathet Lao and spent seven years, 10 months, and a couple of wake-ups in the Hanoi Hilton before repatriation and serving as Director of Operations at Evergreen (B17 and P2V airtankers). Kudos from McCain and Stockdale for his performance as a civilian POW earned Ernie the DOD Medal for Distinguished Public Service. Pat Thurston was with AAM in Laos, and was in the first Aero-Union GI Bill/FAR141 DC-7 type-rating class with me; Pat never flew tankers, but eventually was Director of Ops for America West. Andy Anderson flew for AAM before flying leadplanes for USFS. Jack Laughrin (AAM, Bird & Sons) and Bill LeCount (AAM, CASI) were both carded with T&G and were Captain/copilot on the T&G DC-7C sprayer/tanker that survived a SAM-7 hit over Mauritania in 1988. I flew with both AAM and CASI before flying TBM’s for HVFS in 1971.
Arguably the most notorious S.E.A. tanker pilot was Frank Sibley. While on an RON at LS20 Alternate (Long Tieng, Laos) flying Pilatus Turbo-Porters for CASI, Frank and Buck Radcliffe got into an argument over baseball scores; Sibley took offence and started chasing Buck around the compound with a loaded AK47. Jim Betts tripped him, there was a major pile-on, and Frank was sent home in a straight-jacket. After reportedly flying a TBM airtanker for a season in Nevada, Frank longed for the big time, so he tried to hijack a 727 from Reno -McCarran Airport to drop a million bucks to Hanoi war orphans. There was a scuffle, and he fought his way off the plane. After eluding authorities for a couple days, he was retired to a long vacation at state expense.
There was a web of companies at the time, not exactly connected, but with considerable movement between them; Air America, CASI, Bird & Sons, InterMountain, Rosenbaum, Evergreen, Southern Air, FPL, airtanker operators and fire agencies, several foreign cargo operators, even a few Air Forces that were always looking for unemployed American skyhags. It was interesting work, occasionally lucrative. You took care of your buddies, knowing that you might need a hand tomorrow. And there was no sense lying about hours or experience with that group; there was bound to be someone there that knew of you, or whereof you spoke.
Walt Darran
3. United we might stand---divided we may all fall.
Over the past many years there have been several different organizations representing the interests of various organizations and individuals involved with aerial fire fighting. Several organizations have changed names, a few new organizations have formed and some have gone away. The organizations representing aerial fire fighting interests include AAF, CFPA, HAI, and AHS&AFA. Conversations have beren held with Bill Broadwell and Tom Eversol of American Helicopter Services & Aerial Firefighting Association regarding better communication and cooperation between these associations. He expressed strong interest within his group to expand their current membership qualification and scope of issues addressed. Currently the cost of AHS&AFA membership is beyond what most individuals would consider appropriate; however to have the Washington D.C. representation and lobbying support that AHS&AFA offers could be essential to protecting and enhancing our industry.