Helitanker - From the Cockpit of a Firefighting Helicopter (Pilot POV)
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- čas přidán 27. 06. 2024
- Insight into a typical flight on a “standard” fire mission as viewed from inside the cockpit of a S-64 Skycrane Helitanker. Colby and Mike have flown together on many wildland fires over the years, and we thought we would give you a unique peek into the world of fire flying and show you what Mike actually does when he disappears for the summers and leaves Chuck and Julio to their own devices…
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Met a young pilot years ago, did it the hard way, no military flying, paid for his lessons out of pocket. Took a while, cost a small fortune, but never seen anyone that loved their job more than him.
I have more respect for him than all the air force pilots combined! He deserves nothing but the best in life, hats off to his dedication and hard work.
@@maniya6830 Do you think that military pilots don't train hard? Did you know the washout rate for military pilots is very high. A lot try every year, but a lot fail because of the difficulty. After that, they are constantly in classes and performing check rides to maintain their proficiency, and combat flying is ~way harder than what most civilian pilots are exposed to. The level of training and experience that military pilots receive is exactly why they are so sought after in the civilian sector.
@@ImpendingJoker the ones that make it have not earned it in my opinion. They got a free ride.
@@maniya6830 its not a free ride lol, it still takes a long time
@@Jevrosons it is a free ride. actually, you're paid to do it. how fun. name a single dude that has gotten a chpl from a flight school and getting paid for it.
I love these guys so much. Coming from a loggers perspective, imagine if we spent the same amount of money on mitigating these fires through proper forestry management than the billions in equipment, homes and lives lost in the fires. This isn't an argument against these guys, I respect the hell out of all airborne firefights, but we have to start thinking about stopping the fire before it starts or even the flyboys will become overwhelmed one day.
Every thinking person who knows about fires understands this to be true. Unfortunately, people vote non thinking people into office... Repeatedly, so we get what we have today...
Hey gmcannon, can you recommend me some videos on that? How to prevent fire by forest management
@@TheKorbi Don’t look to California for advice.
@@mobiledetail4you 'Murica!
@@GarySmith-up1un CalFire is pretty impressive and probably cost effective compared to contracts
Having one of these skycranes on a fire ground is a welcome relief for any firefighter especially when it’s a 43degree C day blowing 30 knots heavy Australian bush and all the fire fighters can do is protecting lives and assets. They can slow a raging fire in a matter of minutes. The pilots are absolute legends.
“This is gentleman’s firefighting right here” 😎 lol
As a previous heliattack firefighter, (who tried to move up the ladder into AirAttack as an officer to fly in the birddog but had to part ways with the field), now pursuing my fixed wing (to potentially move into heli, my true love)..I LOVED THIS!! Definitely keeping my fire stoked for flying!! Thank you 🤟😎
Excellent video. More please. Very professional too. No stupid music.
Especially no stupid music. There's an epidemic of idiots who are mentally unable to abstain from blaring music over everything.
"Watch me make this sandwich. For that task, we need AC/DC!" I hate those people.
@@integralmath i prefer Metallica for my sandwich making music
@@integralmath You're the kind of person that asks an artist to change the color of something in their painting so you'll buy it. Man it's gotta be tough dealing with endless hours of free content made by people with the audacity to add their interests to YOUR free entertainment.
As a wildland guy on the ground and a helicopter nut MORE MORE MORE videos like this!! love having the POV and Radio traffic! you guys are amazing much respect!!
That's what she sayr
*Sayd*
More please, loved it, and thank you so much for not adding music!
Especially the not adding music part. 👍
I agree 100%
They did sing a little
@@millimetreperfect sing a little? Hell, they wrote one of the most famous songs with one of the most iconic opening riffs of all time!!! lol
@@jamieshaffer6493 I heard Colby or Mike sing one line “smoke on the water” didn’t realise they were responsible for writing iconic riffs too, or are you talking about someone else?
I'm a low time helicopter pilot. I'm a full-time single dad and my sons are almost grown and I can't wait to get back to flying. I've been interested in firefighting with helicopters. But watching videos like this makes it pretty much a guarantee I'm going to shoot to try and do firefighting at some point. Thanks for posting! I personally would appreciate it if you would post a shitload more!! I also appreciate that you dont have music. Just comms and subtitles for pertinent. Ill def watch every video like this that y'all post
Thanks for the kudos. We'll see if we can put more of these together. And that was a smart move about taking care of your kids first. Even though it is a rewarding career, you're almost never home...
@@michaelstrasser156 thanks man!! Yeah i made choices and had responsibilities lol but they're about to both be adults and i can work and travel!!
No less a hero than any pilots flying combat - incredible precision. The change in air density, the load dumping, you’d think they were sightseeing. Sterling job fellas. Envious Brit.....
One is up. #2 is still sleeping, 2 is waking up! Lol, thats sweet and awesome!
I can only assume that the pilot here keeps brushing a glorious epic mustache when he brings his hand up to his face lol.
Great vocals “Smoke on the water” Thank you for what you do!
"Slow talking Walter, fire engine guy"
I'm in the process of working toward a commercial license, it's so great to see this! I hope to be doing something similar in a few years! You make that hovering look simple...
These guys should get paid more than a governor.
Made the Vertical Reference take-off and landing look easy. Great vid!
“thats not where they wanted they fire I’m sure” lolol
I love the girth strap arm rest 😂😂😂
Love the girt strap in the door for comfort when leaning over. Very nice detail. We are dealing with crazy fires in TEXAS 2022. Yall do great work. Keep it up and stay safe.
I love the helmet custom paint!
Real professionals! Respect to these flight crews!!
Excellent vid. Thanks for your work guys.
Great video. A BUG thank you to all firefighters, you do a fantastic job!
I was on a fire at Domke Lake on Chelan with the Skycrane dropping west of Lucerne. It was pretty impressive..
Outstanding video guys……Thanks!! 👍🏻👍🏻
Thank you for this awesome video. You guys do such a great job. Happy Holidays.
Loved this video. If there are more available, I would love to see them. Heli student, here, and I can’t imagine the induced flow when landing vertically in that beast. Very impressive and inspiring all around.
Thank you for sharing that. Was good seeing how it's done from the air.
What an incredible video. Well done.
Fantastic video! Please continue
Everybody likes to see the videos from the outside, the true skill takes place inside, Great Job
Beautiful work fellas, you're living my dream..... godspeed
Damn.. bullseye! Nice flying!
Love the video. Takes me back to my years on helitack
Awesome video gentleman
Woww! Such an amazing video! 😳😳😳😁❤
Thanks for that POV ride 👍😁
Saw a good video in a long time thank you for the video it was very informative and you made my day 🥳👍🏻
Always cool to watch true pros at work...there is a lot going on here!
Never seen one from the inside. The visibility out of that cockpit is amazing!
Great video! Thanx
That was awesome.
Always happy to see these guys up here near Yosemite when we have a fire...! Keep on Dippin"
awesome ! would love some more !
Stunning.
I like the horse girth-strap. old meets new (well sorta new)
I noticed the conch strap too... creative solution
Awesoem video, like it very much. True heros in my opion :-)
Amazing Job thank y’all for letting MEE watch ✌️👍👍
Thank you for sharing Vid 🙃👍
👽🛸
Good ol Sikorsky S-64 (Ch-54 Tarhe). Looks like a giant grasshopper lol ugly but cool as hell! Keep up the great work to all the Men and Women out there fighting these fires!
Thank you, so much for your service! You are doing some of the toughest flying out there and with so many fires raging and resources stretched thin! Please stay safe and know everyone is very appreciative🙏
What a powerhouse of a machine. Thank you for this amazing ride along.
Very cool. You guys are brave.
This is a cool perspective
must be such a bad ass feeling to be a firefighter pilot.
when i have a fire near me and i see a heli go over i get so darn excited... ive been through several fires here in Cali...
More videos please and awesome job
Looks like more fun than I had imagined. :)
You two know how to handle your big snorkel like a boss.
Perfect shot with the water 😊
Nice work.
Cool. I’m an air attack - always wondered about the conversations on the intercoms. 743…..I’ll be on the lookout. Great Vid!
Great stuff guys!! 👋🇨🇦
Wow!! Just Wow!!
8:05 inspiring ADM.
GREAT video and work. I'd love a little music added in some spots too but looks like you MIGHT have more important things to do lol! Just good stuff. Thank you for what you do.
This looks like a pretty sweet job!
A damn tough one! Here in Mallorca earlier this month we had a fire in the woods on the other side of the valley (Tramuntana) across from my house right next to a populated area. I could see 3 Helis with 1 ½ min interval dropping water that they picked up with the basket across my son in laws house 3 Km down the valley from a pond on the golf course next to the house (80 m). The guys kept up that pace for 4 hours until the fire was out! And they had ground firefighters at the scene too. Those pilots did not need to go to the gymnasium that night! I hope they had a good cold beer and were totally happy with the great job they did that day. Thank you and thanks to the firefighters special mountain and woodland department!
Love it!
that was awesome
For anyone who enjoys firefighting air attacks, you might enjoy M. L. Buchman's "WIld Fire" fiction starring a Skycrane Helitanker, several "Firehawks" a 212 or two and a couple MN 500s!
Excellent PIC view, putting lots of hours.
Fun video. When I started spraying in helicopters I worked for a company in Chelan. Our old hangar is visible @ 2:56.
Great video! 😎🇺🇸
Love it
Awesome to see you guy's perspective. I assume this was the 2015 Wolverine Fire? I was "Holden Division" for 16 days, it was an interesting assignment to say the least.
Great video, thanks for posting! These Skycranes are beasts - hugely powerful - they dwarf the helicopters we see regularly (A-Stars and Bell 407’s) but are tremendously expensive to maintain. They are 1960’s technology (cockpits have been upgraded) - it would be great if a new, modern version was introduced.
Damn good shooting
Worth the fuel to make sure you park her perfectly... 🥰
With a nearby water source, the Skycrane has got to be one of the most effective aerial fire fighting machines out there, it's unfortunate they don't make them anymore.
They do still make them. Erickson Air Crane bought the rights and have been making all new parts for years. My dad has worked for them for almost 30 years
The did the right thing to drop the water at the edge of the fire. It is much more efficient as it stops the spread of the fire faster than making the drop at the middle of the fire.
Where was this fire?
Great job guys thanks for doing it
It is my dream to someday fly a helicopter for the wildland firefighters in my home town.
Awesome video btw.
I absolutely love these videos! I'm currently in college for computer engineering but at a major crossroads in my life, I'm seriously considering dropping out and going the pilot road, it's such a big decision I don't know what to do!
If you complete your degree you can enlist in the military as a pilot (Canada/US). Service commitment will be 7-10 years, but those sweet tax payer dollars will be paying your way through training and you can leave with experience that looks good on a resume. Also, I have been told that you should go into the aviation industry with alternative skills that you can deploy if you get grounded for medical reasons, (computer engineering sounds like a perfect degree to get you a job whenever you want).
Hope that helped.
All the best,
Thanks also for leaving the captions long enough for me to read them. Old eyes 👀
Dude Erickson is badass they saved my bacon a couple times haha
As a former wild land firefighter from the Gila National Forest and now taking helicopter flight training I hope to put in the hours to continue with wild land firefighting but from the air!
dam thats impressive!
My upmost respect to all firefighters beit on ground or in air/sea…👏🏼👏🏼👍🏼
So cool! And it's hard to imagine that they can fly around with 5 tons of water!
9 tons isnt it?
@@legallyfree2955 Could be their full capacity. I thought I saw that they pumped up 5 tons, but I might have been mistaken.
@@rg2cents157 In the news reports in Australia they always say 9000 litres or 9500. There may be different variants too of course because I think I heard 7000 once. I did a google before writing this comment and the first link I found said 9500 liters.
@@rg2cents157 We were at altitude for this dip here so we took "only" 5 tons, but yes, at sea level we could pump 9 tons in there....
@@michaelstrasser156
Thanks for making the video. If I may ask, how is Erickson these days? I've read some not so good employee reviews about them over the last couple years. Have a good day.
Neat!!
Wow! Imagine the current flow when the suction pumps start up. I'm a specialist in aviation power and propulsion. Specifically how power is generated/consumed in aircraft and the effects on the rest of the aircraft.
That’s a super cool helmet
This was so awesome. I looked at your channel, and this is a huge fucking outlier - in content and views. I hope you make more like this. Please be safeish out there.
I like both formats, BTW. The toons are epic.
I flew both fixed wing and helicopter airtankers.
C130, P2, CH-54
4:00 Smoke on the water... and fire in the sky... lalala lalalla la
Got any more of these cockpit veiw ?
That is amazing. I'm just now considering a career in aviation, specifically in helicopters (the lack of fly-by-wire appeals to my manual transmission car owner sensibilities); this has definitely given me some food for thought.
I really miss this kind of crew coordination. I flew scouts in the Army and had the same kind of CRM. Now I'm flying single pilot scouts (TFO's/camera operators aren't pilots) in the LEO world. They try to help in the cockpit but its not the same as having another pilot with you.
As much as I love Scouts I would love to get into the CH/UH world. Any suggestions?
Way cool...
Puts my Piper Archer checklist to shame ;P
I wish I could've got back in the crane this year on the fires. I sent out apps to everybody.
Impressive how fast that sucks up water
This is one fine firefighting "engine"... ;). Even finish the song??
This is how you cook smoked trout. And, oh... btw, your assigned landing spot was 2, not 3 :D